The Sniper Liam O Flaherty Analysis

Bang. Bang. Hit. Run. Recover. Fire. Hit. War. War. War. All. War. Blood. Death. Screams. Dead. Bodies. Floor. Glory. Bang. Bang. Shot. Down. Sniper. Soldier. Alert. Boom. Corpses. Trenches. Weep. Regiment. Slaughter. Kill. Die. Die. War. The two literary pieces that are being compared and contrasted in this essay are “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty and “War Is Kind” by Stephen Crane. “The Sniper” by Liam O’ Flaherty is a short story published in the year 1923. The author Liam O’ Flaherty 1896-1984 is an Irish novelist and short story writer. The text is about the job of a sniper, and the story takes place in Dublin. The fight is between the Republicans and the Free State. The short story is about the troubles of a sniper and the procedure

The literary pieces “The Sniper” and “War Is Kind” both present the theme of their work as death. The sniper kills an old lady that was an informer to the opposite party which were the Free State, “The woman whirled round and fell with a shriek into the gutter” (2). In the sniper one of the main actions is killing, therefore one of the main resolutions is death. This quote shows that the sniper killed a woman, and the result was death. The quote shows how death is a main part of the sniper’s job because he is part of war. The quote shows how simply death could come in war, and how this text presents it in a quite brutal way. In “War Is Kind” the soldiers were extremely proud of killing, and were training to kill easier, “Make plain to them the excellence of killing” (22). This quote shows that the result of everything they were doing, and pretty much the result of war itself was death. The quote shows how death as I said for the other literary piece was a very subjective thing, no feeling attached. Death is something that came along with practicing the skill of killing. In both literary pieces the main thought provoking is death, the result of both texts in final is death. The sniper killed an old lady that was the informer, and was working for both sides while the plain soldier in the poem was proud of killing and was being ordered to learn to kill easier.

The author Liam O’ Flaherty uses literary devices such as imagery and metaphors to present the different events that a sniper takes place in war. In the short story many things occur that are seen from the perspective of a sniper, an event that occurred was that a bullet came right across and hit the roof, “Almost immediately, a bullet flattened itself against the parapet of the roof”(1). In this metaphor the sniper did not view any of his enemies and decided to take the risk of putting on a cigarette, although the light from when he struck the match attracted his enemy, and they shot. The metaphor stands for how the bullet went right across. The short story is based around the life of a sniper during war, his experience. This could have not happened in a war battlefield, for a regular soldier therefore that is why this quote presents the view from a positioned sniper. The short story is also different because it is about a sniper and therefore the events and actions occur differently. This quote although it does not directly interfere with the duties of a sniper, and is not a detail of a sniper movement or command it clearly shows that it is the sniper. The job of a sniper is usually to stay at height and to shoot the people below, or other fellow sniper’s that are not in his party. In conclusion this metaphor shows how the short story is written from the perspective of the sniper. Liam O’