Liam O 'Flaherty's Short Story The Sniper'

Compared to the sniper, there was no hesitation at all when the sniper shot the enemy. In the text it claims, “Then, when the smoke cleared, he peered across and uttered a cry of joy. His enemy had been hit”(O’Flaherty 166). This displays how the sniper has no hesitation and has absolutely no regret for shooting the enemy, but soon after, the sniper starts to feel remorse for the enemy he shot. “The sniper looked at his enemy falling and he shuddered. The lust of battle died in him. He became bitten by remorse” (O’Flaherty 166). Throughout the short story, of “Horseman in the Sky”, the reader obtained many character traits about Carter including, how he enjoys the outdoors, comparing it to a piece art, an while the sniper is a flat character, who we don’t learn much about him, besides him being strikingly arrogant. These stunning short stories, remind me about the movie/book, American Sniper. With that being said, these compare because Chris Kyle, the main character in the movie/book, has a conflict to shoot a young kid, who has a

During the times of war, lines are blurred and deaths arise where guilt has no room to wrap itself around a soldier’s head as they choose between killing and being killed. Under the summer evening and heavy artillery fire of Dublin, Ireland, a republican sniper lays waiting, in a fanatical haze, behind the parapet of a building’s roof. He decides to light a cigarette, despite the risk of exposure, and encounters an enemy sniper opposite the street from his position. Promptly after, an enemy vehicle approaches, met by an informant, who divulged the sniper’s location. Having to execute the informant and a soldier exposed in the open turret, the marksman seeks upon the rival sniper, killing him by a ruse of playing dead along with an arm shot and feebly. Following a moment of hysteria, he evades the bullets of a machine gun, throwing himself aside the corpse only to find it to be his brother. In “The Sniper”, Liam O’Flaherty suggests the

In “The Sniper”, the main character is thrown into a revolutionary civil war. He’s pressed to make quick decisions off of his training and human instinct. The protagonist in “Ambush” is faced with the same issue, he’s in a bunker on watch waiting for something to happen. He’s trained to react when something does, but his humanly instinct tells him otherwise. Both characters soon make decisions they regret, but can’t take back. “I’ll watch him walk toward me, his shoulders slightly stooped, his head cocked to the side, and he’ll pass within a few yards of me and suddenly smile at some secret thought and then continue up the trail to where it bends back into the fog,” (“Ambush”) said by the protagonist, this clues the reader in on the fact that he regrets his decision of killing the innocent man who may have never harmed him. Albeit someone senior to him told him that it was right and completely justified, he still feels distraught and remorseful about what he had done. “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother's face,” (“The Sniper”) said

In lines 12–13, the narrator expresses how "righteously thrilling the feel of the.22, the bullets’ neat noses" is when firing the weapon. This change is most noticeable in the detailed, almost ecstatic accounts of murdering every woodchuck. A deep, unsettling enjoyment of the act of killing is reflected in phrases like "the murderer inside me rose up hard" (line 20) and "the hawkeye killer came on stage forthwith" (line 21). This contrasts with the narrator's previous portrayal as a reluctant killer. By immersing readers in the moral complexity of the narrator's experience and raising questions about how easily one might be lured by violence, the first-person narrative technique heightens the intimacy of the tone.

I believe he does this so that the reader does not think the author is just making up random things, so that the reader can take that person's side of the story. A example of this was when the sniper says “I’m hit” saying that he has been hit and that was the end and when he killed the enemy sniper it was the end and that was it. He didn’t take sides with either of the snipers when they were hit and just told the story as is. The story also shows how the turret “Approached from the corner” and began to shoot at the sniper and there was no statement to defend him. This leading up to both snipers having their final battle and then the good sniper ends up getting shot and saying “there was no pain, just a sensation as if my arm had been cut off,” and then the good sniper shooting the enemy sniper and killing him. This also shows how when the sniper killed the opposing sniper and went over to see him and say his brother you could sort of feel how he

In both of the stories irony is used at the very end to leave the readers wondering. In The Sniper, situational irony is used a cold hearted sniper is fighting willingly in a war until he realizes how cruel and meaningless his actions are. This is an ironic situation because his heart will soon be broken. The sniper is an excellent soldier, and kills an old woman and enemy soldier in the

The story takes place in Dublin, Ireland in the year 1922. During this time, there is a civil war going on between the Republicans and Free States. This story is about a very skilled republican sniper who tries to kill his enemy, in which he succeeds but feels guilty about it. The author foreshadows that the sniper knew his enemy by comparing how similar they are. “When the sniper reached the laneway on

An experienced soldier needs training in many fields to be successful. Being trained in many fields making the soldier experience gives them an advantage against the other soldiers that have little to no training at all. Also having training can relate to other people due to sports and how the training there is grueling so the person can be the best at it. It can be argued that the protagonist is characterized as experienced due to his survival and combat training which is required to be successful in the field in the short story “The Sniper”, by Liam O’Flaherty. Being trained in survival skills is necessary for success.

Liam O’Flaherty’s realistic fiction story, “The Sniper,” takes place in Dublin, Ireland during a civil war. In the story, a Republican Sniper is stuck on a roof with enemy snipers surrounding him. He shoots two enemies down before he is shot in the arm causing his rifle to brake. Now he must find a way to make a hard shot in order to kill the enemy with just a revolver and a hurt arm. By using word choice and sensory details O’Flaherty demonstrates the theme that actions have serious repercussions.

Two brave men who have bought the enemies and persevered the horror that laid ahead of them. “The Sniper” a short story by Liam O’Flaherty, takes place during the irish civil war. A trained sniper is given a mission to kill. Where as Private first class paul berlin the protagonist in “Where have you gone charming Billy” by Tim O'Brien, he is a young soldier drafted and sent off to fight in the vietnam war where he must face inner struggles and the violence during the 1960s. Though they both are two different people, the two protagonists have similarities and differences in their own unique ways.

In The Sniper by Liam O'Flaherty The republicans and free staters are in civil war , and he ( the main character) tries to fight them off , and kills them and fighting them off , and he accidentally killed his brother. There is a war against Republicans and the free staters , and one guy is doing his best to win , and he shoots the snipers and he gets hit in the arm , and he cut it off , and then a lady saw him and started yelling and he had to shoot her . Then when he got most of the people he ran over and saw someone else and shot them , and he turned the body over and it was his brother . War isn’t safe and lots of people can get hurt .

Perhaps he had been in his own company before the split in the army”(4). The sniper thinks the man he just killed could be a former friend from the army or life before the war but he does not think twice about going to see the dead man. We know how we would feel if we killed our own brother but the sniper doesn’t know yet that the man he killed is his brother. We are left at the end of the story with no way of knowing the sniper’s emotions after killing his brother. If I was in war and killed an enemy and that person turned out to be my brother, I would never forgive myself for that. In my mind I would never let go the fact that my brother’s life was taken away by me. Before the real action begins the author commentates,”The turret opened. A man's head and shoulders appeared, looking towards 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

"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.

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 .