Jackson Smith
Mrs. Snavely
English III AP
19 September 2012
American Sniper Chris Kyle also known as “The Devil” is known very well by enemies due to his astonishing sniping skills in American Sniper. His first appearance is in north central Texas where he grew up. This is where his childhood was based, where he learned from his family about self-reliance, family values, watching over family and neighbors, and patriotism. He also describes how he went to school, and worked out at a farm for many years. In this memoir “The Devil” tells about his life growing up and informing about his time serving as an elite Navy SEAL Sniper positively affecting his life.
The memoir begins with Kyle describing where he came from growing up. This method of introduction immediately establishes that the language is both personal and informal. Using this technique results in the reader’s attention being immediately captured. The following quote is used as background information for his point on becoming a SEAL: “Working on a ranch is heaven. It’s a hard life, featuring plenty of hard work, and yet at the same time it’s an easy life” (Kyle 16). Another quote, “He’s a tough character and one of my closest friends to this day” explains how his brother also helped toughen Chris Kyle up to help him become a SEAL (Kyle 9). As seen in the previous two sentences many of Kyle’s sentence structure are more dicative of a more complex order. When using short sentences, the sentences show emotion. Shortly after capturing the reader’s attention from his description of growing up on a ranch, he begins to describe the steps of becoming a Navy SEAL through the use of diction. Chris Kyle uses many examples of becoming a SEAL; he does this by describing the entire BUD/S experience in the following excerpt: “It was the start of BUD/S training. We were bold, excited, and nervous as hell” (Kyle 22). Kyle’s use of words and tone in this quote shows his feelings towards becoming a SEAL and how it all began. “You get close to the people in BUD/S,” (Kyle 37) here he shows diction in the type of language he was using. As the memoir continues, “The Devil” begins to start talking about actual missions he went on by using details in his sentences. He begins focusing on his actual sniper kills and how he managed to pull them off. This is where he begins the details of a SEALs life, and language of being able to pull the kills off. “Every night I would get my shots off, taking out one or two or sometimes more” (Kyle 173). In lines like these, the reader begins to have a growing anticipation, were the reader wants to hear about the kills that Chris Kyle produced. Kyle does a good job informing the reader and giving details about the missions and kill confirms