Liam O Flaherty The Sniper Quotes

Name: Eli Dain Period: F Date: 5/2/24 Title: Liam O’Flaherty’s “The Sniper” (“The Sniper” in quotes when referring to the book) Liam O’Flaherty was an Irish short story novelist who frequently included the Irish Civil War. One example of this was “The Sniper,” a short story about two snipers, one Republican and one Free State sniper who came into contact during the Irish Civil War. Moments after the Republican Sniper shoots the Free State sniper, he goes to see who he killed, and he is shocked and devastated to see his own brother's lifeless face. O’Flaherty on paper was just an ordinary Irish short story novelist, however, his life was much more colorful and interesting than one would expect. His journey was full of twists and turns and he

The old woman on the ground was looking up at the towering building above her, pointing at the Republican sniper. The sniper killed the woman because he didn’t know what side of the war the woman was on and who she was pointing him out to. “She was pointing to the roof where the sniper lay. An informational. The turret is open. A man’s head and shoulders appeared, looking toward the sniper. The sniper raised his rifle and fired.”(ParaG 6,7) The Republican sniper killed an innocent woman just for pointing him out and yelling “An informer”. The sniper panicked, jumping to the worst conclusion that his location would be revealed. The sniper, also after murdering the old woman, had to now focus on his goal, to kill the rival Free State sniper. Knowing the situation, the Republican sniper had to kill or be killed. After he killed his rival sniper, he was curious about who he had just assassinated, and proceeded to check who he had killed. He sees his brother's face staring into his now-lost soul. The Republican sniper will live with the trauma of killing his brother for the rest of his life. He had no option though, as the Republican sniper had to kill for his survival. War put him up for it. O’Flaherty has dealt with similar obstacles, such as his time in World War I and the Irish Civil War. O’Flaherty had trouble with trauma similar to the Republic sniper. During his well-served

O’Flaherty was shadowing his experiences fighting in World War I and the Civil War using the Republican sniper. O’Flaherty did fight for the Republic in the Irish Civil War and wrote about the Republican sniper as it was like he was writing his story from his time in war. “His face was the face of a student”(ParaG 2). The Republican sniper was a student, the same as O’Flaherty. O’Flaherty was forced into World War I as a young student in school. At the time when the Republican sniper lit his match to smoke a cigar, he was careless, not thinking, not knowing the risk of being spotted. He was just a student and didn’t know the danger when the Free State sniper just missed a shot that could have killed him. Lighting the match was hinting that he was new to war, making such a mistake when his life was on the line. Immediately after the snipe was missed he got some sense knocked into him that this was real and not action figures. O’Flaherty was young, 20 years old, and represented his country in World War I. He was also careless about the war, not knowing the real consequences. When a bomb just missed his base where he was stationed, O’Flaherty was hit with the tough truth about the realities of war and fell into shell shock shortly thereafter. O’Flaherty and the Republican Sniper both had an experience that showed the real