The use of twist endings in the “The Sniper”, “The Diamond Necklace”, and “Just Lather, That's All”
Twist endings in a story are powerful; they cause the readers to re-evaluate everything they knew about the story and think back with a different emotional stance. The Sniper, The Diamond Necklace, and Just Lather, That's All, contain twist endings that all leave the readers stunned. Liam O’Flaherty, Guy De Maupassant, and Hernando Tellez all had the right idea when including this literary curveball into their stories as it gives the reader a way to experience the same story in two different ways. Twist endings have a way of exposing new emotions both positive and negative. In these stories negative outcomes and unnecessary struggles appear
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However in the story “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty- there is one very unfortunate yet important to the plot, death. This story is based in Dublin, Ireland where a IRA sniper and a Free Stater are fighting on the rooftops. The protagonist successfully shoots down his opponent, which at the time is thought to be good. “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face.”(O'Flaherty, The Sniper)This is where the readers and the protagonist in the story both realise that the concour of the antagonist is not actually a good outcome but instead a disheartening, negative outcome. If the Information was revealed sooner the protagonist would have changed his motives and instead of killing his opponent he would have been trying to communicate his identity to his brother. Once the protagonist turned over the body to realise it was his brother it is assured that there is a monumental amount of guilt felt by the protagonist. “The lust of battle died in him. He became bitten by remorse.” (O'Flaherty, The Sniper) Even before the sniper knew that his assailant doubled as his brother the fact that he had killed someone had him feeling guilty leading the readers to understand that his guilt was tremendously intensified once the delayed information was disclosed. There is no doubt that the protagonist felt a great deal of regret and would go back and change his goal in the situation. “ He took steady aim. His hand trembled with eagerness. Pressing his lips together, he took a deep breath through his nostrils and fired.”(O'Flaherty, The Sniper) This is the very moment the protagonist would wish to go back to and change. The sniper would indubitably wish that he knew it was his brother sooner thus allowing him to change his course of action from killing to either letting himself be killed or
War is something that can change the very principles of a person, it can change a person and leave multiple effects that can last for their entire life. The sniper is fighting in a civil war where friends and family can turn into enemies at a moment's notice. The fight is between the Republicans and the Free Staters, the protagonist is a sniper for the Republicans. Throughout the story, we go into the state of mind of the main character and learn some ramifications that he gained in the war. The text, “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty shows us the physical and psychological results of war, that happens to people.
One night he encounters an enemy sniper he struggles in besting, and applauding his marksmanship, he risks his life to go examine the body of the fallen soldier. Upon finding the body, shot and lifeless, he discovers the slain enemy was his brother. But, although the bullet which killed his brother was dispensed by his hands, responsibility for his brother’s death does not fall on him. Not only was he unaware of the enemy’s identity in the darkness of night, it was also his duty to take out opposing forces; he followed through with his
The theme of how war can tear apart families in “The Sniper” first appears at the start of the book when he shoots a woman. First, Dublin shoots a woman walking in the open field. The text says, “The sniper fired again, the woman whirled around and fell with a shriek and into the gutter.”The woman the sniper shot could have been a neighbor or friend because this took place during civil war. In civil war, the country divides and goes to war.
In the short story, “The Sniper,” author Adam O’ Flaherty includes the element of surprise to reveal that war causes not only physical risk, but also psychological sufferings. This is true because of many reasons according to the story. Flaherty uses surprise and the element of suspense to show how war affects those involved. In the story, there is a Civil War taking place in Ireland. The war is between the Republicans and the Free Starters.
This essay will begin by examining the importance of O’Flaherty’s description of the setting in his short story “The Sniper”, and how his description of the setting emphasizes the reality of war. From the beginning of the story, O’Flaherty portrays a dark and dull setting of war. “Dublin lay enveloped in darkness but for the dim light of the moon that shone through fleecy clouds, casting a pale light as of approaching dawn over the streets and the dark waters of the Liffey.” (O’Flaherty) In this passage, O’Flaherty describes the setting of a simple street in Dublin at dawn. This creates a dreary tale to read. The setting in this short story emphasizes how tedious war can really be and how sometimes there can be no action for a long period of time. Usually, when there are wars in movies or novels, the plot does not focus on the
An author’s main goal is to have the reader intrigued by the text with suspenseful and/or dramatic scenes happening throughout the story. The authors of all three stories (“The Sniper”, “Ambush”, and “The Trip”) all portray this expectation flawlessly. Even though the stories have a great chronological order with amazing characters, they also share similar themes and subjects. The following reasons explain why.
“He felt a sudden curiosity as to the identity of the enemy sniper whom he had killed… Perhaps he had been in his own company before the split in the army.” “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face.” From these quotes we can experience the horror the unnamed sniper feels as he realizes that not only has he killed a man but he has murdered his own brother. The feeling twisted in his heart, sorrow, solemn and regrets.
thinks is right or a person who fights because he has to? “The Sniper” tells a story of a sniper who is in a fight between another sniper. The story takes place in Dublin Ireland and is considered Civil War. In ¨The Sniper,” Liam O’Flaherty uses diction, point of view, and plot to create a story of loss, pain , and an intense mood.
“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.
The sniper develops insensitivity to death during the war. When he kills the old woman, she’s trying to run away and isn’t really a threat. He even “utters a cry of joy” when he finally shoots the enemy sniper. This shows how war can get people caught up in the cat-and-mouse “game” aspect of it and forget what they’re actually doing—killing people. People get so caught up in the “game” that they don’t think about the repercussions for their actions.
"The Sniper" places a strong emphasis on the evils of war, and yet paints a vivid image of mankind's qualities and their society. Employing the technique of describing one particular sniper to symbolise a general subject, readers are able to gain a deep insight into the evils of war. In this story, the assembly of setting, contrasting characters and themes of fanaticism and division of loyalties are vital to conveying the horror of war. On the other hand, "The Sniper" also discusses the power of war, depicting it as the decider of life and death for men. Its force is further emphasised when neighbours are turned into enemies under war's influence.
In 1923, the story “The Sniper” was written by Liam O'Flaherty. The story is about a Civil war in Ireland where there were 2 snipers, shooting at each other and they were both on a rooftop with long-range weapons and they don’t know each other but at the end one of the sniper found out that he killed his own brother. The author uses irony and the conflict between the sniper and the other sniper just to tell us the main message which is that we shouldn’t fight each other, we should fight together because we live in the same country and we should fight for our country.
In conclusion, the stories “The Sniper” and “Cranes” both prove that “war is hell” making them kill people even if they are relatives or friends. Lastly, “The Sniper” is more effective in a way because he killed his brother without knowing it was him, he just knew he had to kill the
The Sniper, written by Liam O’Flaherty, is a story about a Republican sniper in the Irish civil war in 1922. This story tells of a night spent on a roof looking for the enemy, the Free-Staters. In this short description of the nights events, the sniper kills 3 people; a soldier, an informer, and finally an enemy sniper on the roof across the road from him. In the end this enemy sniper turns out to be the republicans brother. This story shows the the specific characteristics a sniper must have to carry out their duty. A key moment in this text which influenced the sniper is the Civil war itself.
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 .