occurs between the climax and the resolution, writers usually show the effect of the climax on the main character. In this story, the main character suddenly, and perhaps surprisingly, suffers remorse over his killing of the enemy. This prepares the reader for the bigger surprise to follow.

Resolutions often provide an ironic twist—something that is surprising or unexpected. In this case, after killing the enemy, the main character leaves the roof and climbs down to the street to look at who he has killed. When he turns over the dead body, he sees that he has killed his brother. This event underscores the nature of civil war—we often have to fight our neighbors or even our own family members.

The climax of the story is when the Republican sniper hit the opposing sniper on the opposite rooftop and killed him. He was overjoyed to have made his shot because the two had been waiting to outsmart the other and make the kill. The resolution came when the sniper who made his kill decided that he wanted to look into the face of the man he killed, who was on the side of the civil war that he hated. He became sick when he peered down at the man and realized that he was looking into the face of his brother!

The climax of a story is considered to be the moment of the most tension, the moment when the main conflict is at its height, and it can even be a turning point of some sort. It is then helpful to determine what the main conflict is before trying to ascertain the climax of a story. As much of the story revolves around the conflict between the Republican sniper and the enemy sniper on the opposing rooftop, it can be argued that the climax of the story occurs when the protagonist finally defeats his enemy, killing him. However, the sniper seems to experience a conflict with all three individuals he kills: the driver of the armored car, the woman informant, and the enemy sniper across the street. These conflicts do not arise out of a personal dislike for these individuals; rather, they arise out of the fact that he is participating in the Irish Civil War and must kill or be killed. After he kills the enemy sniper, the "lust of battle died in him. He became bitten by remorse." He feels revolted by the sight of his enemy's shattered body and tosses his own gun to the ground. This would seem to indicate that his main conflict is actually with society, a society which is so deeply embroiled in war.

It is for this reason that the protagonist's killing of the enemy sniper is not the story's climax, as the conflict isn't really between the two snipers but, rather, with the protagonist's conflict with society as a whole. Thus, the climax of the story is the final line: when the sniper turns over his enemy's body and "look[s] into his brother's face." It is in this moment that both the reader and, we can assume, the main character understand the true nature of the story's conflict, when it comes most intensely forward. The sniper doesn't hate his brother, but he's been compelled to hate his enemy by his society, and now he's killed his own family member as a result.

In examining the plot and its key parts, you need to consider how the climax is foreshadowed throughout the novel. To a certain extent the author foreshadows the ironic and grimly tragic ending of this short story. For me, the foreshadowing comes in when the sniper has killed his enemy, and he has a moment of remorse as he contemplates what he has done having dispatched his enemy and opened his way to leave the roof:

The snipe looked at his enemy falling and he shuddered. The lust of battle died in him. He became bitten by remorse. The sweat stood out in beads on his forehead. Weakened by his wound and the long summer day of fasting and watching on the roof, he revolted from the sight of the shattered mass of his dead enemy. his teeth chattered, he began to gibber to himself, cursing the war, cursing himself, cursing everybody.

It is this paragraph when we begin to suspect that there is something wrong with what has just happened - we see the student, who was previously described as a "fanatic", now regretting the war and what he has just done. This represents the author preparing us for the shocking ending of the tale - that the man the sniper has killed is his brother. This, of course, as the sniper rolls of the body of his enemy, is the climax of this powerful and concise tale that speaks eloquently of how civil war separates friend from friend and brother from brother.

Liam O'Flaherty's "The Sniper" is a classic action and suspense story set during the Irish Civil War with a surprise ending. A sniper sits on the rooftop of a building pinned down by an enemy sniper on another rooftop across the street. When an old woman in the street below threatens to make his presence known to the enemy, the sniper is forced into action. To protect the secrecy of his presence, he kills both the old woman and the enemy soldier she attempts to inform. However, in the time it takes him to shoot these two individuals, the sniper on the rooftop across the street fires upon him, wounding him the arm. Now the sniper's only chance to survive is to somehow dispose of the enemy sniper across the street and escape the roof before morning. However, unbeknownst to the sniper, the identity of the man on the rooftop across the street complicates the story's resolution.

In the short story "The Sniper" many events build tension.  The title itself is a means of tension as a sniper is an expert marksman who is able to kill others while staying alive himself.  Gradually you find out that this is in a war where families are often pitted against each other.  The sniper reveals that he is on a rooftop, and that another sniper knows he is there.  He must figure out a means of killing the other man without revealing his own position.  To make matters worse, dawn is beginning to come and he will be visible. Each of these create tension as the sniper wants to live.  So begins the cat and mouse strategy to get the other sniper to commit to a movement on the roof.  When the old woman points him out, he kills her and the soldier with her.  In the exchange, the other sniper wings him in the arm.  Pretending that he is dead, the other sniper lets down his guard, stands up, and is killed by the sniper's hand gun.  All of these events build tension as you don't know who will survive until now.  The final act is for the sniper to turn over the body of the man he has killed only to find his own brother.  This horror creates even more tension.  And yet, the war goes on.

The setting is the Irish Civil War in 1922. A Republican sniper, a young man, sits on a rooftop in Dublin, trying to locate any enemy soldiers. An enemy sniper fires from another rooftop when the Republican sniper lights a cigarette. Knowing he has been spotted by the enemy, the sniper devises a plan to escape before morning. Before he does this, he spots an enemy car on the ground. An old woman tells one of the enemy soldiers in the armored car where the sniper is. When the enemy soldier peaks out of the turret, the sniper fires and kills him. The woman (informant) starts to run away. To prevent her from telling other enemy soldiers where he is, the sniper fires and kills her as well. 

Then the enemy sniper from the other rooftop fires, hitting the Republican sniper in the arm. He bandages his arm and makes a plan. He places his cap on top of his rifle and raises it. The enemy sniper fires and the sniper drops his rifle. The enemy thinks he's killed the sniper, so he stands up. The sniper kills the now standing enemy sniper who then falls off the roof. 

The sniper feels remorse, throws his revolver to the ground, and a misfire from the revolver as it hits the ground makes the sniper come back to his sense of being an objective soldier. He descends and is curious, intending to get a look at his enemy. The sniper sees his enemy's face and it is the face of his brother. 

The sniper darted across the street. A machine gun tore up the ground around him with a hail of bullets, but he escaped. He threw himself face downward beside the corpse. The machine gun stopped. Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face. 

The story illustrates the tragedies of war and of young men being forced to become ruthless killers. In particular, the story shows how a civil war, a war of "brother against brother" or "countryman against countryman" makes one think about the nature of a "civil war" and that other international wars are equally as tragic. 

Three events that lead to the climax of "The Sniper" are when the first bullet almost hits the sniper, when the sniper is shot in the arm, and when the sniper pretends to be dead.

The story begins with the sniper eating a sandwich and then deciding to light a cigarette despite the risk that it would give him away. "Almost immediately, a bullet flattened itself against the parapet of the roof." This incident marks the beginning of the rising action because it kicks off the escalating conflict between the sniper and the other sniper across the street. A second event that leads to the climax is when the sniper is shot in the arm. After shooting the woman in the street, the sniper is shot at again:

Suddenly from the opposite roof a shot rang out and the sniper dropped his rifle with a curse. The rifle clattered to the roof. The sniper thought the noise would wake the dead. He stooped to pick the rifle up. He couldn’t lift it. His forearm was dead. "Im hit," he muttered.

This incident leads to the climax because it marks an escalation in the tension between the two snipers. Now that the sniper is in pain and in grave danger, he is even more determined to hit the sniper across the street and end this situation. Finally, a third event that leads to the climax is when the sniper pretends to be dead. He knows that he cannot stay on the roof until the morning, or the other sniper will definitely kill him. Instead, he places his cap on the end of his rifle and lets it fall to the street so the enemy thinks that he has succeeded. After this, the enemy sniper comes out and stands in clear view, so the sniper easily shoots and kills him, marking the climax of the story.

The inciting incident of a story is the event or decision that begins a story's problem.  I had a former teacher explain to me that everything before that incident is only backstory.  Everything after that moment is the actual story.  

If we apply this concept to "The Sniper" as a whole, then the backstory information is the opening paragraphs about the war going on and the fact that the sniper is in position as the day turns into night.  At this point, the story is at peace.  Everything is in balance.  There is no conflict or problem to be solved.  

As I said in the first paragraph, the inciting incident can be a decision that begins a story's problem.  That is what happens in "The Sniper."  The inciting incident in this story is when the protagonist sniper decides to light his cigarette.  

He paused for a moment, considering whether he should risk a smoke. It was dangerous. The flash might be seen in the darkness, and there were enemies watching. He decided to take the risk.

The sniper could have chosen to not have his smoke, but he chose to take the risk.  That single decision and action then propels the action of the story forward.  From that moment forward, the sniper is under attack from an enemy sniper and an armored vehicle.  

Placing a cigarette between his lips, he struck a match, inhaled the smoke hurriedly and put out the light. Almost immediately, a bullet flattened itself against the parapet of the roof.

For most of the story, the sniper is on the defensive.  Early in the story he lights a cigarette and gives away his position to the enemy sniper.  The sniper does manage to relocate, but he knows that any subsequent actions will re-alert the nearby enemy sniper.  Despite knowing that firing his rifle will once again give away his position, the sniper shoots two people.  As a consequence, the sniper gets shot in the arm by the enemy sniper.  The sniper is very much in a defensive posture at this point.  He can't lift his rifle properly any longer, and the enemy knows his location.  He is a dead man unless he finds some way to go on the attack.  

In order to get out of his difficult situation, the sniper manages to fool the enemy sniper into thinking that he is dead.  That little bit of subterfuge is the turning point in the story, because it finally allows the protagonist to go on the offensive.  He has successfully fooled his enemy, which then allows the sniper to kill his opponent. The switch from being the hunted to the hunter is why that part of the story is the turning point.   

When the sniper kills his enemy, he decides to to have a look at his victim. He considers the possibility that he might know this enemy sniper. 

When the sniper reached the laneway on the street level, he felt a sudden curiosity as to the identity of the enemy sniper whom he had killed. He decided that he was a good shot, whoever he was. He wondered did he know him. Perhaps he had been in his own company before the split in the army. He decided to risk going over to have a look at him. 

The final line of the story indicates that the sniper looked at his enemy and saw "his brother's face." This could be quite literal. Given that the sniper's army split as the civil war developed, it is possible that his brother had become his enemy. But it is also could refer to countrymen as brothers. This is why civil wars are often described as wars of "brother against brother." In either case, the implication is that the sniper knew his victim (as his brother, a friend, acquaintance, or countryman). The shock is that he knew (in any of those interpretive senses of "brother") the man he killed and this shock speaks to the insanity of war.