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Liam O Flaherty's The Sniper

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A person goes into war unprepared to deal with the aftermath of killing a person. In Liam O’Flaherty’s short story “The Sniper,” the plot is a troublesome event for a republican sniper in the Irish Civil War. A Republican sniper is set on a mission to kill his enemy. He found out he shot his brother. In Liam O’Flaherty’s short story “The Sniper,” the characterization of the sniper shows that risk-taking can indicate regretful outcomes. These regretful outcomes changed how he looked at war, making him hate war and show extreme remorse. The author uses characterization to show the sniper is a risk taker. The sniper starts to think to himself, when he first arrives at his sniping spot, whether he should light a cigarette even though the enemy might see him: “He paused for a moment, …show more content…

He decided to take the risk” (O’Flaherty, 1996, p. 1). The Sniper chose to smoke because he knew the enemy was already waiting for him. The Sniper did not eat because of his nerves. People smoke to calm down, the Sniper took this risk to smoke as a way to calm his nerves. The sniper regretted lighting the cigarette because he ended up getting shot. The sniper takes this risk to get a visualization of how to take down his enemy. The sniper makes impulsive decisions, despite beneficial or disastrous consequences, to ensure he stays alive to finish his mission. The sniper is thinking of a ruse to get out of danger. The Sniper takes off his cap and puts it over the parapet. The enemy immediately shot at the cap. The sniper proceeds to play dead, making the enemy think he killed the sniper: “Crawling quickly to his feet, he peered up at the corner of the roof. His ruse had succeeded” (O’Flaherty, 1996, p. 1). The sniper is in danger; he needs to find a way out. The sniper is willing to die to finish his mission, but more selfish to make sure the other person is dead. Even something drastic or unlikely to work, like his

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Liam O’ Flaherty does an outstanding job of creating a shocking and tense atmosphere within The Sniper. Throughout The Sniper, the author puts the Republican sniper in many close call situations that could potentially kill him. “A bullet flattened itself against the parapet of the roof... There was a flash and a bullet whizzed over his head,” (Page 1). When the sniper goes to peak after the first shot, the reader wonders if he is going to get hit with a bullet, which adds the atmosphere of .

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Almost immediately, a bullet flattened itself against the parapet of the roof. The Sniper took another whiff and put out the cigarette. Then he swore softly and crawled away to the left" (O'Flaherty, 1). Evidently, the Sniper made a bad decision and backfired on him. By him trying to smoke while he's undercover, he puts himself in a dangerous position, the enemy tried to attack him and found his location.

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But the sniper is much different. He is very arrogant, as he is eating a sandwich and risks a smoke ‘because he can.’ Even after he is shot, he still retains a sense of arrogance and entitlement. Also, he risks crossing the street to see who the enemy sniper was that he killed, even though it is extremely dangerous. His arrogance is portrayed in the passage, “The revolver went off with a concussion, and the bullet whizzed past the sniper’s

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This shows the sniper went through his brain and fast forwarded to the future to see what the outcome could have been and then made the choice. He could have been quick to fire, but he thought through it and of the consequences. Another example is “ the sniper lay still for a long time nursing his wounded arm and planning escape” ( Flaherty 5) So meaning he was smart enough to be multi-tasking. He was smart enough to have the resources and the experience to treat his wound.

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In the story “The Sniper”, adversity was demonstrated when the republican sniper faced the problem of being in a war and having a high chance of death, but was

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In the exhilarating fight scene between the two snipers, the republican sniper finally gets a good opportunity and shoots the opposing sniper, “His enemy had been hit. He was reeling over the parapet in his death agony. ”(O’Flaherty 3)

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And sometimes those mistakes makes us lose important persons. As it says in this quote from “The Sniper”: “The sniper looked at his enemy falling and he shuddered. The lust of battle died in him. He became bitten

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A significant theme in the text The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty that has been communicated is the tragedy and futility of war. The theme highlighted teaches the message that war is pointless. By saying this, the author explains that going to war and fighting over an ideology is futile and will end in suffering, hurt and grief. The author expresses this message by highlighting the fact that innocent civilians will die, and people’s loved ones will be taken from them, which will result in no one winning the war because of the deep human impact. While reading this text, we learn many messages.

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Interesting how an experienced sniper would take this risk. When he lights the cigarette, he immediately faces conflict when another sniper on a building across from him shoots at him. After some an intense buildup, our sniper kills the other soldier when the opportunity strikes. He tricks the other sniper, and saves his own life by shooting him. It is only then that the sniper reveals a softer side.

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A similarity in “The Sniper” is when the sniper realized he had took a risky shot

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This is of great significance to the main protagonist, known as the sniper, because his enemy can also be seen as a reflection of himself. This event causes him to feel remorse and regret about his actions. For example, Liam O’Flaherty writes “The sniper looked at his falling enemy falling and shuddered. The Lust of battle died in him. He became bitten by remorse.”

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This shows how the sniper’s actions without thought affect him for the worse. O’Flaherty establishes the theme of “The Sniper” by using description and irony. After the sniper turns over the dead body, he realizes what he has done. He was not thinking when he shot the enemy.

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“The sniper look at his enemy falling, underline and shuttered. The lust of battle died in him.” This is the end result when violence and assumption overcome us: we react in the right away. From the short story, “The Sniper”, we learn that assumption and violence can cause us to act in regrettable ways. The enemy sniper kills innocent people, the sniper fakes his death, and kills the enemy sniper.

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If you knew who you were shooting at, would you pull the trigger? In the story called ¨The Sniper¨ by Liam O'Flaherty, a man, who is referred to as ´the sniper´ is about a man who is in a war in Dublin. The first thing that happens is when he shoots a man in a turret and a woman. Then he gets shot in the arm. Then he shoots an enemy sniper.

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Without craft moves made by the author, the story wouldn’t even be a legitimate story, just some thoughts put together. Two out of the many very important craft moves in The Sniper are the setting/time period and the point of view. The setting and time period is very crucial to The Sniper. The book takes place in Dublin, the capital of Ireland, during the Irish Civil War. In the beginning of the story, the author paints a very clear picture of the setting, allowing you to vividly imagine the conditions that they are in during the short story.

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