Rhy O Flaherty The Sniper Analysis

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.

In the sniper short story the main character, which is the Republican sniper has quite a few conflict with different things during the story. One of the first conflicts the sniper has is against hunger. The story quotes “He was eating a sandwich hungrily. He had eaten nothing since morning.” I would consider this conflict man vs. self because he hasn’t been able to feed himself because of being in the war. The republican sniper has a conflict with himself in view of the fact that he is considering smoking but he knows that it is risky. The story quotes “He paused for a moment, considering whether he should risk a smoke. It was dangerous. The flash might be seen in the darkness, and there were enemies watching. He decided to take the risk”. This caused

The sniper decides to light the cigarette. “Almost immediately, a bullet flattened itself against the parapet of the roof.” This means that there is danger everywhere, vigilant and waiting for the sniper to make the wrong move, a move that might cost him his life. The informant relays the sniper’s position to the soldiers in the armored vehicle. After shooting both the informer and the soldier on the street, a shot consequently rings out. “ ‘I’m hit,’ he muttered” No matter how well of a marksman he is, he can still be wounded in battle and he has. “The woman’s corpse lay still in the gutter.” The informant would be on the side of the Free Staters as the sniper is a republican; however, since she had acted upon her beliefs, she had been assassinated attempting to flee. No matter who believes their cause is the ‘right one’, there will be casualties and injuries during the conflict on both

War is catastrophic; it breaks away at your sanity and your physical health. Most veterans are more than often described as “not the same person they left as” by family and friends. Being in the front lines changes you because of the cruelty and harsh conditions your body and mind face. “Over the past decade, about half a million veterans have received diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury. Thousands have received both,” states the New York Times. PTSD lives and breathes in veterans. Although it is a condition invisible to the naked eye, troops go to combat with it every day. “…At least 20% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have PTSD and/or Depression…” from the “…2.3 million troops who served in the Afghanistan war...“(Tanielian 321) fifty percent haven’t been

The military members who are deployed to war zones, especially in the Middle East countries experience very high levels of PTSD and emotional distress. These members, both who have been on active duty and reserve component once they experience combat, they get exposed to very high levels of traumatic stress. Consequently, they develop adverse health effects such as PTSD. PTSD is considered as a long term reaction to battle field exposure, which can last short term, or long term that is, a few minutes, days, weeks, months or even a lifetime. PTSD is characterized with symptoms such as anxiety, emotional numbing, depression, and feelings of guilt. If the condition is not treated and it turns chronic, then the individual may experience functional

This story takes place in Dublin, Ireland during their civil war, and it focuses on a sniper struggling to survive in this harsh, war environment. His main threat is another sniper who has his target on him. The sniper we

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

War can not only present graves physical danger, but can psychologically affect all who partake in it. These two horrors of war are vividly illustrated in Liam O'Flaherty's, "The Sniper", a third person (limited) view of a trapped sniper's internal and external struggle. The historic war this story uses as the setting is the Irish Civil War, in which the young sniper must fight his way out of dangers after being spotted. Liam O'Flaherty's characterization of the main protagonist and his writing style, along with the mental shift of the sniper before the realization that he killed his brother, prove the theme that in the cruel, meaningless fight of a war, humans are reduced to nameless, faceless objects used as targets.

Being daring is a trait often seen in young people. For example, during the Winter, I chose to go walk out on the ice on a lake even though I knew it was dangerous. This is just one time where I have been daring as a young person. The trait is also shown in the short story “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty, and The Saints, by Lex Thomas. The Sniper and Gates are both very daring through how they take risks and complete daring acts.

Soldiers and veterans deserve the credit and support that their countries give them. In the US, if a soldier or veteran passes by, somebody will thank them for serving their country. In “The Sniper”, written by Liam O’Flaherty, O’Flaherty illustrates how the dangers of war are the reason soldiers get that amount of support. “The Sniper’ is about a Republic Sniper in the Irish Civil War. Through mood, internal conflict, and setting, O’Flaherty illustrates the damaging effects war has on soldiers.

“…It is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.” These words, said by the American General Douglas MacArthur, ring with a sad truth. Many people suffer in war, but possibly none more so than those who fight in it. Soldiers are faced with waking nightmares on the battlefield: constant threat of death, pain, and loss hang heavy over their heads, and they are often the first to bear witness to the horror and inhumanity of war. It is unfortunate, but unsurprising, that soldiers quite often come away from active duty mentally scarred due to their experiences on the front. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a severe anxiety disorder that develops in response to exposure to trauma, poses a serious concern

“It was the most ungrateful and unjust act ever perpetrated by a republic upon a class of citizens who had worked and sacrificed and suffered as did the women of this nation in the struggle of the Civil War only to be rewarded at its close by such unspeakable degradation as to be reduced to the plane of subjects to enfranchised slaves.” The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty is a short story set during the early weeks of the Irish Civil War. The Sniper, a Republican, is the main character in this short story.

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

Soldiers witness massive amounts of torment while fighting. This usually causes the post-traumatic stress disorder to take place in their lives soon after. PTSD is a disorder that develops in [several] people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event (NIMH, 2016). Koren, Norman, Cohen, Berman, & Klein (2005), conducted research and examined a study and it “clearly indicate that bodily injury is a major risk factor for among soldiers PTSD.” (para.14). During war men and women feel incomprehensible pain both emotionally and physically. They see ghastly sights of broken bones, death, and fear. Soldiers lose friends and family while they fight. They come home scarred

The actions of the Republican shooter, the protagonist of Liam O’Flaherty’s 1923 anti-war short story “The Sniper”, affected the plot of the story because his insignificant decision to smoke a cigarette creates a chain reaction that results in the death of his brother. The Republican sniper in Dublin at night is trying to decide if lighting a cigarette is a good idea. Knowing the danger about how the flash from the lighter could be seen in the darkness, the shooter makes the dangerous decision to proceed with smoking. After the shooter kills the informer and the enemy, a gunshot comes from the opposite roof which makes him drops his rifle. When the Republican sniper goes to pick up his rifle, he realizes that he got hit in the forearm by the gun (1). During a war, choices that may seem