The sniper essay analysis
Liam O’Flahetry’s short story “The Sniper” is a mysterious and plot twisting story
about a young sniper whose name is unknown who is in a civil war in Ireland. In this
story, the young man was trying to kill another man but unknowingly shot his brother
dead. It is a great short story written in only 3 pages which shows O'Flaherty's
distinctive style in writing. Author Mary Rival once wrote, “In order to deem a story as
great, it must engage the reader, use language purposefully, and encourage the reader
to learn something about himself or his world in the process.”
“The Sniper” engages the reader because ; O'Flaherty changes the mood of the
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But in that case the sniper
goes over to see the person who he had shot. And surely enough it was someone that
is very close to him, it was his own brother…
“The Sniper” uses language purposefully because ; First, at the beginning of the
story, the author uses the words “fleecy” to describe the clouds. We also know that the
sun was setting at the time because of the quote : “The long June twilight faded into
night.”(1) Usually when the sun sets there are beautiful fleecy clouds but in this case,
right after the author says it, there is the violence of the war that starts which takes a
huge mood and plot change in the story. Second, “The Sniper” uses the words “heavy”
and “roared” to describe how loud the guns are. By the word “heavy” O'Flaherty
probably means that the guns were very powerful and dangerous. Now, for the word
roar, the guns don’t literally roar; he means it as a comparison. He is comparing it to the
loud sounding roar of the lion since the guns were very loud.
“The Sniper” encourages the reader to learn something new about themselves