The Irish civil war was a time of violence, change, and betrayal. People took sides, Ireland (Catholics) or England (Protestant). The oppositions were strongly against each other. The short story, “The Sniper,” by Liam O’Flaherty takes place during this time. It shows how violence and assumption leads people into making bad decisions.
The story of “The Sniper,” tells about the night when a Republican sniper was camped out on the roof about to have a smoke. The sniper gets shot at after lighting the match. An enemy truck appears and a woman tells the truck where the sniper is. The sniper shots her along with the truck. He then gets shot at by an opposing sniper from across the street. He nurses his wounds all night and then kills the opposing
…show more content…
The sniper sees a truck appear and a woman walks up toward it and begins speaking to the driver. The truck has a machine gun manned by a soldier stationed on its roof. After the woman finished speaking, the truck immediately starts shooting toward the sniper. The sniper shoots the gunman and then angrily kills the woman. Next the sniper gets shot in the arm by an opposing sniper located across the street. In the story it stated, “The head fell heavily on the turret wall. The woman darted toward the side street. The sniper fired again. The woman whirled around and fell with a shriek into the gutter.” It also stated, “He scooped to pick up his rifle. He couldn’t lift it. His forearm was dead.” This shows how the violence and assumption caused the sniper to kill the innocent women. The reason was his assumption that she was a bad person and killing her would be an outlet to his anger caused by the war.
The theme is fully developed by the end of the story when the soldier kills his brother. The sniper looked across the street and sees the other sniper. He shoots him without thinking twice. Then walked toward the body to see if he knew the person. He looked at his brother. In the story it stated, “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face. The sniper was blinded by his assumption he killed someone without realizing who they were. He was so angry and blinded by the violence he was exposed to, he killed his
Miles opened his door and got out of the car. The Bonewoman, insane with fear, and resting her rat gun on the sill of the upstairs window, took aim and fired a .22 bullet that entered his skull an inch above the left eye. She had vowed to herself as she had watched the singing, chicken-killing soldiers drive away in their jeeps and trucks that she would murder the next man who set foot in her yard. Into the mud beside the yellow Mustang, Miles fell backward, dying. (Page 275)
However, 85 percent of the students wanted to learn more about World War II (McKinney). British and Soviet snipers were also highly successful, a byproduct of training extensively and enduring harsh combat conditions. Yet only 24 percent of seventh graders knew that they were part of the Allies (McKinney). James Riordan’s The Sniper describes the role of Snipers in World War II; Riordan addresses the issue students face when wanting to learn more about World War II snipers, by providing a way for students to learn about them in their free time. Men who risked their lives for their country, men who endured some of the harshest war conditions, men who tried hard to serve and defend their country do not deserve to lay forgotten in history books. Snipers were a huge part of World War II, but surveyed seventh graders do not know that. Their contributions to the war effort were irreplaceable. Whether they be British or Soviet, Finnish or German, World War II snipers were a powerful, but often overlooked,
In the story, “The Sniper”, The sniper showed that he was an intelligent soldier. In the beginning, after Being shot by the enemy sniper the sniper took care of his wound and was able to compose himself and think of a plan. Thinking he had won the battle after the snipers successful decoy the enemy sniper dropped his guard and the second he did the sniper
In Liam O'Flaherty's "The Sniper," all of these. are brought to an acute reality in a single war-torn city. Strong cerebral convictions and opposing philosophies, due to which people want to destroy the seemingly “wrong” plague this world and are the ones who are the ones who are the main reason for the plight. To aid in his creation of such emotional conflict, turmoil and plight, the author has portrayed the sniper as a very controversial character in the story. This story is oriented around one character in the Civil War which he should not even be in as he is. mentioned to be a “student” in the story.
Murder is a reprobate action that is an inevitable part of war. It forces humans into immoral acts, which can manifest in the forms such as shooting or close combat. The life of a soldier is ultimately decided from the killer, whether or not he follows through with his actions. In the short stories The Sniper by Liam O'Flaherty and Just Lather, That's All by Hernando Téllez, the killer must decide the fate of their victims under circumstantial constraints. The two story explore the difference between killing at a close proximity compared to killing at a distance, and how they affect the killer's final decision.
Liam O’Flaherty’s realistic fiction story, “The Sniper,” takes place in Dublin, Ireland, where there is a civil war waging between Republicans and Free Staters. The Republican sniper, who is the main character in the story, is fighting in the civil war for the Republican organization. There are numerous amounts of people who are attempting to assassinate the sniper because of his organization, and his enemies are located all around him waiting patiently until they gain their chance. The Republican sniper, however, leaps before he looks most times, thus leading to severe consequences throughout the story. By using description and suspense, O’Flaherty creates the lesson that actions, without thought, will lead to consequences.
As we saw earlier, both authors of both stories were born in different places and did many things. “The Sniper” sets in Dublin, Ireland, during a time of a bitter civil war. It was a war between the Republicans, which wanted Ireland to become ...
In the story “The sniper”, the sniper face an external conflict and an internal conflict. His external conflict was the enemy sniper. He saw an old woman heading towards the man in the turret. The old woman was pointing at the sniper. Sniper thought
As a socialistic society we live in we find ourselves in positions were conflicts arise between friends or family. 'The Sniper'; was written by Liam O ' Flaherty to express a subtle yet powerful opinion on such a conflict. With references this essay will analyse the short story bringing to light the structure used to contribute to the theme.
The theme of "The Scarlet Ibis" could be: Sometimes, by the time we realize what we have done wrong, we can no longer fix the mistake. In a well-developed essay, discuss, specifically, the theme of "The Scarlet Ibis" then compare and contrast this theme to the research you did for "The Sniper." How is the theme of the two stories alike and how is the theme the two stories different.
"There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful thananything that bleeds. Don 't wait until you break. - Laurell Hamilton" This is oftentimes the sentiment felt by soldiers who have served in active duty and have been witnesses to tragedies that leave them emotionally scarred. The Clint Eastwood directed film, American Sniper is amovie that features the real life tragedy of American soldier, Chris Kyle, who served in theUnited States military as a Navy Seal, which is an elite group (Kenny, 2014 and Treitschke,2015). His story is unique in that he himself suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD), but as he worked to recover, he valiantly served again by helping fellow soldiers withPTSD ("Chris Kyle," 2013), and was senselessly gunned
There is particular consideration given to the political climate in this story. It is incorporated with social and ethnic concerns that are prevalent. The story also addresses prejudice and the theme of ethnic stereotyping through his character development. O'Connor does not present a work that is riddled with Irish slurs or ethnic approximations. Instead, he attempts to provide an account that is both informative and accurate.
In “The Sniper” the conflict is man vs man, which means main character is tasked with killing his enemy, but it proves to be quite a challenge. Even though there were many challenges the sniper followed through with his job and persevered even after he was shot in the arm. Wanting to kill his enemy, stay alive, and be one step closer to ending the war was his main goals. Being brave, he took off his hat, placed it on his gun, and raised it above the edge of the roof. Instantly the enemy shot at it and the sniper, pretending to be dead, waited until the enemy got up for him to shoot him. He did some quick thinking and, with determination, handled the conflict quite well.
Liam O'Flaherty’s “The Sniper” is a story recounting a young Irish man working as a sniper during the Irish Civil War. A young republican sniper lay on a rooftop near O'Connell Bridge watching
The setting to “The Sniper” plays a vital role in understanding the meaning O’Flaherty was trying to convey. The main character is sitting on a rooftop near O’Connell Bridge in Dublin Ireland. During the Irish Civil War, the river that flowed beneath the bridge, was the dividing line in the Battle of Dublin. From the beginning, when civilians watched the opening attacks from atop the bridge, to the end, when it shook from the final bombing that forced the Republicans to surrender, the bridge was a key factor to the end result of the war. (Black,