The Sniper
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. The effects of violence are evident through the passage in many areas. One example of this is he shoots an enemy machine gun operator. He shoots an old lady after he finds out that she is an enemy informant and has revealed his position. The old lady revealing
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.
The story sniper is a story about a man that's in the army which his perfection is with a sniper rifle the story's theme is based on dublin and the sniper which will be called sniper is on the tower looking down on an empty road with hail of gunshots in the distance but he decides to eat a sandwich and light a cigaret but he doesn't want to take the risk of the spark to light the cigarette to give out his position and because the sniper was tired and needed the break he took the risk and lit his cigarette and soon as he blew out the light a gunshot and a crack flew by him
War covets the aspect of man that is man itself, for it craves to morph them into mere objects and targets. For many soldiers, they succumb to such a fate; being depleted their ability to feel immediate emotion, they develop primitive, animalistic urges of bloodlust during a time of bloodshed. The aspects of war gravely impacts a person, and as such can be seen in O’Flaherty’s character “the sniper,” as well as seen in O’Brien’s character “Private Paul Berlin.” The sniper is a victim to the war’s cold, emotionless embrace. A Republican soldier, he is, divided from his brothers in arms on the other side, the ones called the “Free Staters.” Nonetheless, under the circumstances, they all are pawns to Dublin’s chess table of a civil war, being played at the mercy of the war’s
In this suspenseful short story, “The Sniper”, by Liam O’Flaherty, two snipers from opposing sides are fighting against each other. Set during the Irish Civil War, this story includes a Republican Sniper and a Free State Sniper, from opposite sides of the war. The suspense in this story is built through multiple ways using pacing and timing. The author, Liam O’Flaherty uses timing and order of events together to create a lot of suspense throughout “The Sniper”.
“Combat veterans are often alienated from the world around them and often become as barbaric and savage as those they oppose.”(Harry Siegel 1)Soldiers sent to war are sent with one goal and one goal only, to defeat the enemy by any means necessary, that also results in the mentality kill or be killed. That is the reality of the main character in “The Sniper”, a young man objectified by combat and the unknown. Through the use of irony, characterization and syntax O’Flaherty shows how the unpredictability of war dehumanizes soldiers.
Symbolism is also used in “The Sniper” to represent a possible theme. Liam O’Flaherty uses a street between the two snipers to show that a possible theme is that war separates family. The story takes place in the middle of a civil war in Ireland. The protagonist is a sniper across the street from an enemy sniper. The enemy sniper is his brother, and it is unknown until the very last sentence. By including a minor detail such as a street, the author is able to both further develop the setting by showing it as urban and let the reader pick up on a theme of the
I will be writing an essay called The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty. During a irish war in 1922, There was a sniper, on top of a building, that had was spotted by another sniper across the street. One example of situational irony was when the sniper got shot on the arm we may have thought he was going to retreat but he didn't, example of dynamic character is the brother of the main character and the tone of this story was intense, scary and sad.
Adversity is when people have to overcome a problem even though it might be hard for them to do. Overcoming a problem can make people stressed out or nervous that they are doing something wrong. Liam O’Flaherty made The Sniper from “The Sniper” face many hard times throughout the story. While The Sniper was protecting himself from danger, Richard Connell made Rainsford from “The Most Dangerous Game” run from his own game. The Sniper faced adversity by being in the military and making the decision to kill people who were after him. Rainsford faced a problem when a psycho man would not let him leave the island until he made it 3 days without getting hunted. People need to
‘The sniper’ by Liam O’Flaherty is about a young man in wartime sharing a scene of concentration and reflection in the context of a guerrilla war. The story reflects the tragedies of war, taking and affecting the lives of many. The fiction based short story explores the civil war, taking place in Dublin. The protagonist, a young Republican sniper, hiding on a roof-top watching and waiting with anticipation. The war is between the Republicans and Free Staters.
The theme of the short story “The Sniper,” is that People in the world and in war are referred to as objects and numbers ( according to the government.)To further explain it is that they have no names, no faces. That they are just targets and nothing more, to be shot at from a distance. To support this theme Liam O'Flaherty refrains to any of his characters. The rising action is the battle between the enemies and the sniper himself. The climax is when the sniper finally kills his enemy; after being wounded and killing all the other enemies.
The story shows how violence is not the answer by showing constant violence and innocent murders. This is convincing because, the author shows a lot of violence surrounding the main character. O'Flaherty writes, “The woman darted toward the side street. The sniper fired again. The woman whirled round and fell with a shriek into the gutter (2).” In other words, violence is not the best way to solve an argument. One example is, when the machine guns shoot all around him giving no safe place to hide. Also hundreds of innocent people killed without speaking a word of trying to settle the problem. Even a woman who was not showing any threat was shot without thinking.
"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.
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 .