The Sniper 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. Throughout the story the theme that actions have serious consequences is evident. In the moment the sniper is ready and eager to shoot at the enemy. But after the moment is over, the sniper realizes just how awful his actions are. …show more content…
This descriptive sentence, “The lust in battle died in him. He became bitten in remorse” shows how the sniper realizes in this moment the consequences of the actions(3). The author uses the word “lust” to show the sniper is no longer caught up in the fact that this is war and he must defeat the enemy. The phrase “bitten in remorse” is another example of the author using descriptive words to explain how the sniper feels now that he realizes how appalling his actions were. Not only did O’Flaherty use word choice to portray the theme of the story but also sensory details. “The sweat stood out in beads on his forehead”(3). This advances the setting by describing to the reader what the sniper looks like along with how the setting must be hot if he is sweating. The sensory details are also showing the sniper realizing that his actions just killed another man because when the author says “the sweat stood out in beads.” By saying the sniper’s sweat “stood” he dramatizes the idea that the sniper is almost frozen while all the thoughts of the consequences of his actions contemplate in his
"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.
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
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 .
War can destroy a man both in body and mind for the rest of his life. In “The Sniper,” Liam O’Flaherty suggests the horror of war not only by presenting its physical dangers, but also by showing its psychological effects. We are left to wonder which has the longer lasting effect—the visible physical scars or the ones on the inside?
These example show the theme statement that no one win in a civil war. The short story “The Sniper” can be described through the literary element of setting of time,place,atmosphere,as well as the theme statement of no one wins in a civil war. Time shows it is going on during the irish civil war in June of 1922.The story”The Sniper” is taking place in Dublin,Ireland. Atmosphere also
Liam O’Flaherty’s realistic fiction story, “The Sniper”, takes place on a rooftop near O’Connell Bridge where it is dark. A republican sniper lay watching for enemies. The republican dares to risk a smoke, knowing the enemy can see the flash of the lighter. O’Flaherty uses perspective and description to show that if people do not think about their actions before they do them, their actions can end up having negative consequences.
In “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty, it explores the idea that in war, people are actually killing their brothers. This theme is portrayed through the use of irony and imagery. Initially, the author uses death imagery to emphasize the scene of the story, “with the machine gunner’s head hanging lifelessly over the turret. The woman’s corpse lay still in the gutter.” This quote gives the reader a visualization of the street in the story where everything is lifeless, silent and depressing.
Liam O'Flaherty's nonfiction story, “Sniper,” takes place in Dublin, Ireland in 1922. The sniper in is positioned on a roof of a building looking for enemies to shoot down. When he did his job he was ashamed of what he had done. Liam O’Flaherty uses the theme treat every person with dignity, and the craft moves that he used imagery and short choppy sentences to make the story better and more suspenseful. In the story Sniper there are many themes, but the one theme that stands out the most was treat every person with dignity.
People say that war brings out the worst in people or soldiers. Liam O’Flaherty would agree with this statement. Through the use of imagery and foreshadowing in the short story “The Sniper” O’Flaherty shows that war leads to the lack of humanity in soldiers. O’Flaherty uses images of death and conflict to signify war. “The women whirled round and fell with a shriek into the gutter” The description of the woman’s death provides the reader with a clear visual on how brutal and heartless the killing was.
War can destroy any person both in body and mind for the rest of their life. In "Shot by Sniper," by Bartholomew von Klick suggests the horror of war not only by presenting its physical dangers, but also by showing its psychological effects. In the story “Shot by Sniper” Klick shows and relates real life experiences of war. In this story Klick shows how location plays a big part in how physically dangerous war is. In the beginning of the story, it starts off with a Lieutenant solider being in the middle of a gunfight, but nearly escapes death. We are left to wonder which has the longer lasting affect, the visible physical scars or the more emotional ones inside? Klick uses literary devises to incorporate real life experiences of war along
In Liam O’Flaherty’s short story “The Sniper”, the topic is that in war one never
War causes people to fight and kill their countrymen without hesitation. The sniper is not used to killing people, but he has to what he has to do, to survive. The story shows how a civil war can make brothers enemies. In “The Sniper”, Liam O'Flaherty suggests the horror of war, not only by presenting its physical danger, but also by showing its psychological effect.
Flaherty's, “The Sniper” represents the pain, physically and mentally war inflicts on a soldier. The short story takes place at night in Dublin, Ireland at night, during the Irish Civil War. There are two sides that divide Ireland in half. They are the Free-Staters and the Republicans. The story starts with the Republican sniper eating on a rooftop. He decides he wants to light a cigaret even though it might be risky. As soon as he lights the match he hears gunshots and hides. He looks up and the enemy across the street fires at his head, the sniper dodges it. Then, an enemy car rolls down the street. A woman comes down to the car to tell them where the Republican sniper is. The man opens the turret of the car and the sniper immediately shoots
Can you imagine being shot at, but having no idea where it is coming from? The author, Liam O’ Flaherty, wrote “The Sniper”,which takes place in Dublin, Ireland in 1922. It began with the Republican sniper clumsily lighting a cigarette, which lets the Free State sniper know where he is. As a result of the glowing cigarette, the enemy sniper spots him, starting an epic duel. The short story “The Sniper”, by Liam O’ Flaherty is a good story because it has lots of action and an offsetting plot twist.
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,