The Sniper Literary Analysis

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 movie American sniper is produced by Bradley Cooper, Clint Eastwood, Peter Morgan, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar. American Sniper was released in 2014, and America feels sympathy for this unfortunately true story. American sniper is about a Navy S.E.A.L, Chris Kyle, who is played by award winning Bradley Cooper. Chris Kyles is a confirmed sniper legend, taking on four tours in Iraq to protect his comrades. He faces much internal conflict in this time period. He also faces conflict with his wife, Taya. In the end, Chris Kyle is shot by another veteran while helping him cope with his mental illness. TRANSISTION STATEMENT.TRANSISTION STATEMENT. TRANSISTION STATEMENT.American sniper portrays a variety

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

The sniper is a great story that contains a lot of themes and great quotes to back those themes up but I have found the most clear theme in there. The theme here is “In war sacrifice is inedible”. There is lots of different kinds of irony happening within the story. There is situational irony because the sniper ends up killing the brother in a war. There was the two teams the free staters and the republicans. Through the use of the sitional irony and killings this shows that the theme in the book is that in war sacrifice is inedible.

“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.

Think about if you were at war and all the actions you would do in a fight to survive and come out on top. In O’Flaherty’s “The sniper” O’Flaherty writes about a sniper in a civil war on a rooftop going head to head with another sniper and all the decisions the sniper makes to win the fight and come out on top. O’Flaherty uses irony and imagery to tell the reader that in war decisions are made to decide if you live or die and some decisions are rational and reckless. O’Flaherty uses irony in the sniper to show how he survives which proves that recklessness can lead to bad things. The sniper makes the decision to “strike a match” and as that happens “a bullet whizzed over his head”.

Literary elements are a vital part of a story and how it unveils. Without it, stories would lack any sort of feeling that the reader gets when reading/watching the story. Stories like “The Sniper”, “The Necklace”, and “The Cask of Amontillado” are great examples of literary elements in use.

In the three stories “Dangerous game”, “Liberty”, and “Sniper” they all are very different but have similarities. Here are some similarities and differences about the three stories.

In the short story “The Sniper”, by Liam O’Flaherty, a gun battle is shown between two snipers on opposite sides of a war. The republican sniper, the protagonist, cleverly tricks the other sniper to believe that he is dead and then, he himself shoots the other sniper and kills him. The sniper is curious to know the identity of the fallen sniper, and turns over the dead man and finds his “brother’s face”. The republican sniper is a protagonist that is least effective, due to poor characterization, more background on this protagonist or descriptions of the protagonist that the audience could relate to could help characterize him better. But this characterization brought mystery and suspense to the storyline which impacted the way we perceived

     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.

On September 17, 1787, 39 delegates from the thirteen colonies elegantly signed their names on the United States Constitution. Even as the signers read and marveled over their written documentation of our new government, they realized problems could still emerge in the Constitution that would need to be addressed. To solve this dilemma, the delegates came up with a way that the Constitution could be changed so that future generations could patch up any holes they found in this important document. These changes are called Amendments, and today there are a total of 27 of them. Each Amendment is crucial to our Constitution, but which one is the most important? It’s strongly believed that

The theme of death and violence is another important segment in indicating the evils of war. Each individual is engaged in killing their enemies and struggling for their own lives. As seen through the view of the sniper, the people¡¦s lives are centred around killing and death. Lifestyle, even to the extent of lighting a cigarette becomes risky and could lead to death. Citizens are forced to be locked in their homes for fear of being shot. The incident, where an old woman is hot by the sniper, who is then injured by his enemy is an example of war¡¦s destructive nature. The loss of innocent

Lastly, the war changed the sniper by misplacing him. The sniper is described as a young person. “His face was the face of a student, thin and aesthetic, but his eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic.” The use of strong adjectives such as “thin and aesthetic” and “the cold gleam of a fanatic” show how the sniper is misplaced in this environment. Further into the text, youthful guilt became apparent. “The sniper looked at his enemy falling and he shuddered. The lust of battle died in him. He became bitten with remorse.” This use of metaphor shows the reader how quickly his emotions change, showing his guilt and regret for what he has done. Lastly, the snipers curiosity was influenced, as he felt he needed to find out the identity of his victim. He felt this because of how the misplacement had

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 .