Novelist and short story writer, Liam O’Flaherty grew up in a village on the western coast of Ireland. He was a good student when he was young, and when he grew older, he enlisted in the British Army. Later, after enlisting in the army, he began to write stories while he was in the war. Many of Liam O’Flaherty’s short stories about war, have become very popular throughout the world. One of his greatest, most popular stories, “The Sniper” has some of O’Flaherty’s experiences of being in the war. The short story, “The Sniper”, was published in the London paper, The New Leader, on January 12, 1923. Liam O’Flaherty was a World War I veteran. He wrote most of his stories while in the war. The stories he wrote, became very popular after the …show more content…
An example of suspenseful writing in the story was when the enemy sniper shoots the Republican sniper. “Suddenly from the opposite roof a shot rang out and the sniper dropped his rifle with a curse. The rifle clattered to the roof. The sniper thought the noise would wake the dead. He stooped to pick the rifle up. He couldn 't lift it. His forearm was dead. "I 'm hit," he muttered.” This Short story can show how sudden things can change, and how scary it can be trying to figure out what to do next. Mr. O’Flaherty tells his short story to inform others how difficult and scary war can be when someone gets shot at or wounded. In his short story he also shows how fast and smart you have to be, and know how to take care of yourself if something happens. In the story, after the sniper got shot in the arm he knew how to temporarily fix it. “Then taking out his field dressing, he ripped open the packet with his knife. He broke the neck of the iodine bottle and let the bitter fluid drip into the wound. A paroxysm of pain swept through him. He placed the cotton wadding over the wound and wrapped the dressing over it. He tied the ends with his teeth.” In war anything can happen at any certain …show more content…
The story is representing Mr. O’Flaherty and his brother in the war. Liam O’Flaherty was a great author and created many pieces of work that have become very popular since they were published. In “The Sniper”, it shows readers that war only makes people simple objects, how bad it can affect people and the side effects, and some experiences will be with some people till they die. This short story of the two snipers was the story of what happened to Mr. O’Flaherty, and how he got a mental illness from killing his own brother. In “The Sniper”, it can show some of the true horrors that a war can bring into a person’s
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.
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.
The main character of “The Sniper” is the republican sniper and the main character of the “Cranes” is Songsam. In “The Sniper”, the sniper is in a war and he is trying to kill his enemy. At the beginning of the story, he is on a rooftop near O’Connell Bridge lay watching. Beside him lay his rifle and over his shoulders was slung pair of field glasses. He looked like he was a student. He was self disciplined but was extremely devoted towards the war. He was eating a sandwich because he eaten nothing since morning. He is going to smoke but he paused and thought whether he should or shouldn’t but he did. In the “Cranes”, Korean War is going on. During this war, many villages along the thirty-eighth parallel changed hands several times.
The basic plot of the story is based during an evening within the Irish civil wars. It tells of a republican sniper sitting on a rooftop and neutralising enemy units as the cross a bridge. When a free-states sniper shows himself on an opposite roof they wage a fierce and innovative war to see who would end up the better. Eventually the republican sniper gains the upper hand and after taking a bullet in the arm destroys the worthy opponent. After a curious inspection to the identity of the enemy sniper he finds himself looking into the eyes of his dead brother.
Comparing the three stories “The Dogs Could Teach Me,” “The Flowers,” and “The Sniper,” “The Sniper” demonstrates the best suspenseful text between the three stories. To create a suspenseful story, “The Sniper” develops multiple moments of suspense. For instance, one illustration of suspense in “The Sniper” is “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 is a suspenseful moment in “The Sniper” because if the sniper risks to smoke, he will be giving away his position and could be shot at by the enemies. Another representation of suspense is “Pressing his lips together, he took a deep breath through his nostrils and
The mood of the story is dark and weary. In this scene the sky is gloomy and there are Republican and Free Starter soldiers fighting in the Irish Civil war, “The long June twilight faded into the night. Dublin lay enveloped in darkness but for the dim light of the moon that shone through the fleecy clouds.. machine guns and rifles broke the silence of the night, spasmodically” (O’Flaherty 1). Although the mood of the story is creepy and dim for the most part, it is silent with the sudden sounds of guns firing. As the story progresses, the sniper’s emotions begin reflecting on his actions. He begins to feel guilt and remorse for killing someone and the mood shifts to tension and violence.
It is a story about the love of war, the love of brotherhood, the love of friendship, the love of family. It is also about the what could have been and what could of not. O’Brien is more focus on the raw emotion but not just only the emotion of the soldier but the audience. Different audiences ranging from reader who experienced the war and to the readers that would come well after the war.” With these stories O’Brien is trying to tell us a story about his emotion. His true goal is to bring his reader back to the war so they can feel the emotion of that moment. What I came to learn about Tim O’Brien reasoning is that he uses fiction to tell his story. With fiction he could tell his stories from many point of views, even though the theme is the same the details always differ. With details O’Brien can spark any type of emotion by his form, and the language he uses to speak. The more details the more us the readers feel the need to care. Creating the need to put ourselves into that person situation. The need to feel pity for the characters, because it feels so
Tim O’ Brien’s narrative, How to Tell a War Story depicts the livelihood and experience of American soldiers during the Vietnam War. More so evaluating the life Tim O’ Brien and several other characters in his platoon. The sequences of stories reveals the thoughts and behavior of many post-Vietnam veterans and also can be related to the behavior of many veterans today. Throughout the segments of stories, “How to tell a War Story”, “Speaking of Courage and Notes”, and “The Things They Carried”, O’ Brien illustrates a common theme of guilt and sacrifice among the key characters Lieutenant Cross, Rat, and O’ Brien himself. Each character are presented with an unexpected responsibility and are forced to serve their state. A sense of discomfort
"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
Like "The Lives of the Dead," it begins with a statement that the rest of the chapter throws into question. "The War wasn 't all terror and violence," the narrator tells us, "Sometimes things could almost get sweet" (31). What follows, however, is a series of vignettes that are anything but "sweet." When a Vietnamese boy with a plastic leg approaches an American soldier with a chocolate bar, the soldier reflects, "One leg, for Chrissake. Some poor fucker ran out of ammo" (31). When the same soldier steals his friend 's puppy, "strapped it to a Claymore antipersonnel mine and squeezed the firing device," he responds with an ironic affirmation of the initiation right of the conventional war story: "What 's everyone so upset about? ... I mean, Christ, I 'm just a boy" (37). Here, the novel renders ironic both the loss of innocence and the "reconsideration" that structure the traditional war story. The positive spin that underlies the war story as a genre emerges here only as a bankrupt fantasy. Thus in "How to Tell a True War Story," the narrator warns, "If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie" (68). Aimed
Create a list of O'Brien's criteria of how to tell a true war story and give an example of each criteria in outline form.
Tim O'Brien's story, "Speaking of Courage," is an allegory that opens up the hearts of soldiers. O'Brien's use of metaphor allows the reader to relate on a personal level with the soldiers of the war. Men who fight for their country and die on the battlefield are more than just a number or a casualty. These men all have a bond that most of the world does not understand.
The first act of a soldier struggling with post-war life is the chapter, “Speaking of Courage,” when the character, Norman Bowker, is trying to work through the loss of a fellow soldier as he drives around his childhood hometown. “The war was over and there was no place in particular to go” (O’Brien 131), “As he came up, a pair of red flares puffed open, a soft blur...
O’Brien, Tim. “How To Tell a True War Story.” The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford St. Martins, 2003. p. 420-429.
In “Ambush,” Tim O’Brien conveys a sense of regret and uncertainty as he attempts to justify his actions of killing an enemy soldier in Vietnam. (MS 7) While serving in the Vietnam War, O’Brien sees an enemy soldier approaching. His military training prompts O’Brien to throw a grenade, killing the soldier instantly. The reoccurring memory of killing the soldier haunts O’Brien for years. Throughout his essay, O’Brien uses the literary elements imagery, tone, and irony to portray his sense of regret and uncertainty. (MS 2)