Literary Elements In Ambush, The Sniper, And Harrison Bergeron

A story is not complete without a setting, mood, theme, conflict, or a plot. These literary elements also have a big impact on life. After a reader is don’t reading a story, they could be influenced by the story and see life a lot differently. Many stories literary elements are similar to others, while some are completely different. Theme is what makes a story come to life and what influences your thoughts and actions. The themes of Ambush, The Sniper, and Harrison Bergeron will makes you have a different outlook on life. The theme of Ambush is, “anyone and everyone will do what they have to do to keep themselves and others safe.” The narrator is Ambush didn’t want to kill the young man but he knew he had to for the sake of his people. The
theme of The Sniper is “think before you do, sometimes it could save a life.” The narrator in the story shot someone because they were an enemy, but the enemy turned out to be his brother. In the text it says, “Then the dying man on the roof crumpled up and fell forward. The body turned over and over in space and hit the ground with a dull thud. Then it lay still…Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face.” This shows that he wasn’t really paying attention to his surroundings or he couldn’t see that far to tell the enemy was his brother. The theme of Harrison Bergeron is “no one is exactly the same as someone else. Keep being you and stand out in the crowd. Harrison refused to be different so he was seen as a threat and he was put into jail. These themes are similar because they all have to do with people trying to save people from other people. Setting is what gives a story its purpose, its conflicts, and what makes the characters act the way they do. Ambush took place at an ambush site in the woods during the Vietnam War. While he was walking down a trail, he saw a man and threw a grenade. In the text it says, “Shortly after midnight we moved into the ambush site outside My Kye.” This quote shows where the story takes place and leads to why the character did what he did. The sniper takes place in June during the night, near the O’Connell Bridge during the civil war. Harrison Bergeron takes place in 2081, in a society that enforces extreme equality over its citizens. These settings are similar because they all take place in the past or far into the future. Conflict is what happens to a character, what makes the story interesting, and what makes us want to read more. In Ambush, the conflict is between the man, and the narrator. The narrator has to kill the man in order to keep his camp safe. The conflict in The Sniper is between the narrator and his brother. The narrator and his brother were fighting on opposite sides in the civil war. The narrator had to kill his brother to fight for his rights. The conflict in Harrison Bergeron is between Harrison and the Handicapper General. Harrison refused to be the same and the Handicapper General saw it as a threat, threw him in jail, then eventually killed him. In the text it says, “She fired twice, and the Emperor and his Empress were dead before they hit the floor.” All of these short stories have a man verses man conflict. This means that all of them have conflicts between two or more characters. Stories have very similar and very different literary elements. The settings, themes, and conflicts of these stories are all pretty similar. Comparing and contrasting these literary elements help the reader clearly understand the story.