In the story "The Sniper," what atmosphere does the author convey to the reader? Give concrete examples.

I think a pair of words that accurately describes the atmosphere of that story is cold and impersonal.  The reason (concrete example) why I think that is because the narrator does not use any names.  The characters are described, but never named.  "The sniper," "the enemy sniper," and "the old woman" are how the narrator identifies characters.  By not naming anybody, the reader feels that those people are nothing more than targets or pieces on a battlefield.  They are expendable, which is a cold way to look at a human.  

Another word that I think describes the atmosphere of this story is tense.  The story is short, but it packs a lot of intensity to it.  Once the sniper identifies the woman and machine gunner as targets, the narration of the story picks up in speed.  The sentence structure becomes shortened which gives it a clipped feeling of pace.  Each sentence is also action oriented.  This happened. Then that. Then this.  

The turret opened. A man’s head and shoulders appeared, looking toward the sniper. The sniper raised his rifle and fired. The head fell heavily on the turret wall. The woman darted toward the side street. The sniper fired again. The woman whirled round and fell with a shriek into the gutter.

The reader feels like a part of the firing action.  Spot target, shoot, work bolt, new target, shoot again.  It's tense, because the scene is happening quickly and describing a life and death situation.