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Review Of Liam O 'Flaherty's Short Story The Sniper'

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Liam O’Flaherty’s story “The Sniper” is a realistic fiction short story that takes place in Dublin, Ireland. The story is about a sniper that shot a republican. The sniper ran over to the man he shot and realized it was his brother. Liam O'Flaherty the author, teaches his readers that violence doesn’t solve anything and he shows this lesson through suspense and description . Violence leading to regret is shown at the end of the story. The regret is shown at the end of the story when the sniper removes the enemy’s mask and finds out that the republican is his brother. For example, a quote from the story says, “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face.” This quote shows that the sniper had just killed his …show more content…

O'Flaherty says “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face.” This shows suspense because the sniper looks at the man he has shot and realizes he made the biggest mistake he ever could have made. O'Flaherty shows suspense because the reader would of never expected the man he kills to be his brother. The second craft move he uses to show why violence doesn’t solve anything is description. In the passage O'Flaherty says “His face was the face of a student, thin and ascetic, but his eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic. They were deep and thoughtful, the eyes of a man who is used to looking at death.” When the author says that you automatically are able to picture what this man looks like. This shows that violence does not solve anything because just by looking at this man's eyes you are able to tell he has seen and might have been through things no one should ever see. Throughout the passage “The Sniper” the two crafts he uses is suspense and description, he uses them to show why violence does not solve anything positive. In the story “The Sniper” written by Liam O'Flaherty is about a two snipers that are shooting at each other, one is a republican. The republican gets shot and falls off the building, the sniper who shot him goes to see if he knew him. At the end of the story you realize that the man he shot and kills is his brother.

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