Shoot
Chris and the other soldiers were “on the roof of an old rundown building” at the edge of the town “the Marines were going to pass through.” The wind “kicked dirt and papers across the battered road.” When the chief said that the Marines were coming, he looked “through the scope.” The only people he saw were “a woman and maybe a child or two nearby.” Chris watched the troops “pull up.” “Ten young, proud Marines in uniform” got out of their vehicles and gathered for “a foot patrol.” “As the Americans organized, the woman took something from beneath her clothes,” and “yanked it.” “Take a shot,” the chief said. Chris “hesitated,” someone tried to get the Marines “on the radio.” That was the first time he’d killed anyone while he was “on the sniper rifle.” This imagery evokes a feeling of uncertainty.
The number
People often ask Chris, “How many have you killed?” His “standard response” is, “Does the answer makes me less, or more, of a man?” The number “is not important” to him. He confesses, “I only wish I had killed more.” “Not for bragging rights,” but because he believes that “the world is a better place without savages” who like “taking American lives.” He believes that everyone he shot in Iraq was trying to “harm Americans” or ‘Iraqis loyal to the new government.” He had a job “to do as a SEAL.” Chris Kyle doesn’t really worry about what “other people think” of him. Though he is still “a bit uncomfortable with the idea of publishing” his life story. This imagery shows the protagonist’s hesitation.
Simplicity
“Every story” has “a beginning.” Chris’ starts in “north-central Texas.” He grew up in “small towns” where he learned “the importance of family and traditional values, like patriotism, self-reliance, and watching out for your family and neighbors.” Chris is proud to say that he still tries to live his life according “to those values.” He has “a strong sense of justice.” It is “pretty much black-and-white,” the man doesn’t “see much gray.” He thinks “it is important to protect others” and he doesn’t mind “hard work.” It is pretty much very simple. This imagery helps to understand what kind of a person Chris Kyle is.
