The Sniper: A Complex Character

Wherever there is conflict, there are always those begging for peace, the Irish civil war being no exception. In their respective texts, The Sniper and The Freedom of the City, Liam O’Flaherty and Brian Friel call for peace from this war by arguing that it is futile. Both authors communicate this common message to their audiences through the utilisation of the same stylistic techniques including structure, characterisation, and motif. However, the exact manner in which each technique is used or presented differs between the texts.

When someone first enlists in the war, they are fresh,new, and ready to fight for their country. As the years go by, war breaks the soldiers down and turns them into rugged, motionless men. The generals mold them into killers with no feelings and only designed to kill without content. This is true in The Sniper by Liam O'Flaherty. The theme of war brings out the worst in people turning them into monsters is developed through three types of conflict: man vs man, man vs himself, man vs circumstances.

“Wars never hurt anybody except for the people who died” -Salvador Dali, leader of the Surrealist Movement. In both stories men who are at war are described, both of these men have killed a man who are known as their foes. Both of the men realize that the man they killed could've been a friend, and were someone who really wasn't the enemy. The relationship between these two stories is that war can tear families apart. In Liam O'Flaherty's “The Sniper” and “The Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy both show similarities and differences in plot, irony, and theme.

Through literature, Liam O’Flaherty, the author of the short story The Sniper, clearly illustrates how horrific and destructive war really is. He illustrates the appalling agony of the Irish civil war through a dramatic story of two brothers against each other in the war. Through the the author's writing, readers can conclude that the theme of The Sniper is that war destroys families. O’Flaherty sets emphasis on this theme by using many strong literary devices. The literary devices used that apply the most emphasis on the theme are situational irony, setting, and the author's use of direct characterization .

The characteristics of the characters in a story are something that makes them who they are and what you start to learn about them. In The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty, the protagonist shoots and kills the antagonist. The two characters in the story are, the protagonist which was the narrator (main sniper) and the antagonist (enemy sniper). The protagonist saves the lives of others because of his his intelligence, his determination, and his risk-taking.

“Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.” John Fitzgerald Kennedy wrote this quote to the UN General Assembly on September 25, 1961. In other words Kennedy is saying that people should stop war because war tears people apart. In the writings “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty and “The Man he Killed” by Thomas Hardy they also talk about how war tears people apart. These two writings are both very similar although they have some differences in literary devices plot, irony, and theme.

In the short story, The Sniper, O’Flaherty explored the theme that a person’s desire to live can consume all of his or her humanity. One example of the theme was when the sniper shot and killed an old woman when she told an enemy tank his location. “The sniper fired again. The woman whirled around and fell with a shriek…” Although the old woman was threatening his life by informing on him, killing an old woman in any situation should be a traumatic experience for anyone, particularly a younger soldier, whose face was like a student’s. However, he had shown no hesitation in shooting her. When he put iodine on his bullet wound, he is able to feel the pain because his external sensors for pain have not been numbed by war. By contrast, his internal

Religion, government, and territory are the usual reason for war and the people that have to choose a side. This is seen in the story as the people have to choose between Republican or free state and the sniper is doing the deeds of the side he believes . But these states of war can make families tore apart. The conflict is internal in the character of the sniper in these reasons which lead to death of a war men , the old women, and his brother, showing the why realities of war and how a person can be driven to kill innocent people just to win a side. In the warmen case he was just protecting what he believed in the free state just protecting the old woman with her informing him that a sniper was on the roof so he did what he supposed

The sniper is a short story written by Liam O’flaherty set in the time of the Irish civil war. Two brothers unknowingly have different ideas of the war and each go on to divergent sides (Republican and free state). The republican sniper extirpates two enemy targets up until he was shot in the arm by a free state sniper. He was inadequate to use his sniper so he creates an elaborate plan to escape and kills the free state sniper with his revolver. Once he killed him, he began to fade away into the shadows of Dublin, but his curious mind exploited his logical, and he went over to see who the sniper was who he had decimated. He went up to the body with horror already brewing inside. He stares into the cold, lifeless eyes of his brothers face.

The american sniper is an example of a complex explanation of what a hero is, what a hero can do, and the obstacles to surmount. After knowing all what a hero can do and what a hero must do, some characteristics a hero need to have are really specifics. Some of the characteristics can be described as: bravery, self-sacrifice, others before themselves, and many of them must be shown in the moment when someone need to do the difference. In the american sniper, Chris Kyle was a hero, he was a real hero in real situations, he was a hero because took all responsibilities on his own and did what he had to do. Also he showed bravery and self-sacrifice, even that he claimed that to be a real hero was needed to have been marked for the war to have scars of what he had

In the two stories we read I learned about relationships and protagonist. In the first story the sniper I learned about protagonist. This lesson was taught by the main character is trying to kill the bad guy. The protagonist means the good guy or the main character. The second story was the scarlet ibis theat taught us about relationship. This was taught by the brothers bonding. In conclusion the story's taught us that relationships and that protagonist are

Candidate Mayhow began his time as fire team leader by issuing a clear and easily understood brief. SNC however, seemed to spend too much time providing extra minute details that the team behind them were already getting close to assaulting their objective. Once SNC finally finished his brief and got them in formation to move, he then shot his compass azimuth and started out on foot. After a short distance, his team took “sniper fire” and suffered a casualty. SNC continued to have his team assault through the “sniper” even after being informed that the sniper had “retreated.” SNC then put his team into a 360-degree defense and started getting his ACE report. Once he had the information, SNC tried to give the ACE report to the evaluator.

This realistic fiction short story, “The Sniper”, written by Liam O’Flaherty is about a Republican sniper who is engaged in combat with a group of Free Stater soldiers in Four Courts Dublin, Ireland. Throughout the passage the sniper is faced with many problems, some of which are caused by his own actions. O’Flaherty uses descriptive words and other author's craft in this passage to create a theme of violence not only hurts the enemy, it also hurts everyone involved.

He felt a slight relief looking down, from the parapet, at the city that was now completely quiet, no gun shots, nothing. He sat down on the rooftop and enjoyed the moment of silence, that lasted only a few more minutes. An incredibly loud scream made the sniper jump to his feet ready to shoot. Then a silhouette from the rooftop across him looked like it was trying to stand up, he looked closely and soon realized the dark shadow was the opponent he had shot not more than a few minutes earlier. The rifle was ready to shoot and when his fingertips touched the trigger the voice of the enemy screamed, “John, please don’t shoot!”

Modern research has shown that when people come back from war, they may act different, for instance having PTSD; post dramatic stress disorder. Although Liam O’Flaherty wrote “The Sniper” 94 years ago, he still addresses the lingering effects of war, such as causing families to rip apart. He tells the tragically ironic tale of a lone Sniper unknowingly killing his brother. It is through O’Flaherty’s use of setting, characterization, and internal conflict to show that war often disconnects people from their humanity.