Humanity and Remorse Theme Analysis

Despite the enmity between combatants, the story also shows that a strand of human curiosity, of desire to understand and connect with the enemy, is present still. The Republican sniper proves himself to be not totally bloodthirsty, despite the surge of joy he feels upon killing his rival. Rather, after the adrenaline and drama of battle, the Republican sniper immediately understands that his rival was a person, and that the killing of a person is a tragedy and a waste. In fact, the Republican sniper is so overcome by his sense of the now dead enemy sniper’s humanity, that he feels the need to see the man he has killed.

The war, then, does not completely cause the sniper to lose his sense of humanity. The final twist that the enemy sniper is his brother, of course, hammers home how war can make bitter enemies of anyone, but the sniper’s urge to go and see the enemy out of remorse suggests that there is a fundamental humanity that continues to exist even within war, and gives some hope that it will continue to exist after the war as well.