Midterm Essay
The short story The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty is about a story of an Irish sniper fighting for the republican army during the Irish Civil War. The author’s story illustrates themes including, family betrayal, physiological transformation, and survival wrote this short story based on his experience during World War I. In “The Odyssey” Homer explores similar themes such as instinct vs logic, family, greed, and death. In this essay, I will be discussing how these themes are presented well as comparing this story to “The Odyssey” by Homer.
Liam O'Flaherty’s “The Sniper” is a story recounting a young Irish man working as a sniper during the Irish Civil War. A young republican sniper lay on a rooftop near O'Connell Bridge watching
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The young man lowered himself to pick up the rifle, but could not lift it because he had been shot. He felt the blood trickle down his left arm, seeping through his sleeve. He ripped open his sleeve to find the bullet wedged into his bone. He decided that it was just a fracture. He quickly found a piece of cotton padding to cover his wound and tied the ends with his teeth The sniper was resourceful and quick to find a solution to fix his arm. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, to overcome the pain. He formulated a plan to take down the enemy sniper without the use of his injured arm. The young man removed his cap and placed it on the rifle. This created the illusion of a human head. He then pushed the rifle up and over the edge of the bridge to make his decoy visible. A shot was instantly fired, successfully hitting the cap. The Republican sniper let the cap fall and hung his wound arm over the roof. All went according to plan. Thinking he had won, the enemy sniper stood up to look across the road. The republican carefully lifted the revolver, and fired. This plan may remind you of something. Yes, the trojan horse. In order to wipe out the romans, the greeks needed to make them think that they have won. In order to do that they had Odysseus pretend to be a …show more content…
The enemy had been hit. The young man watched his enemy fall forward to hit the pavement. He looked at the crumpled body and shuddered. His excitement dies down and was beaten by guilt and regret. It was now that the young man realized, he had just killed a man. The act was as necessary as it was brutal. This can easily be compared the sc to when Odysseus kills all of the suitors. It was This can be compared to the “power of god's’ ” theme in the Odyssey. In the beginning of “The Odyssey” Odysseus kills the cyclops out of greed and amusement, forgetting about Poseidon and what punishments he may have in store for him. The gods’ power (Poseidon specifically) is equivalent to the power one has to take away another’s life (The Sniper). In both “The Odyssey” and “The Sniper”, this power can be abused. Odysseus had already with into trouble with Poseidon, who was about to let him off the hook. Odysseus had abused and under estimated the god’s power, just as the republican disregards the cost of killing a
The brother shot at him first. He didn't know it was his brother it was dark. There was smoke in the air. He could barely see across the way . His brother shot him in the arm. He didn’t want to be found dead up there in the morning. He had to find a way down, but he was shooting at him.
In the story, “The Sniper”, The sniper showed that he was an intelligent soldier. In the beginning, after Being shot by the enemy sniper the sniper took care of his wound and was able to compose himself and think of a plan. Thinking he had won the battle after the snipers successful decoy the enemy sniper dropped his guard and the second he did the sniper
In Liam O'Flaherty's "The Sniper," all of these. are brought to an acute reality in a single war-torn city. Strong cerebral convictions and opposing philosophies, due to which people want to destroy the seemingly “wrong” plague this world and are the ones who are the ones who are the main reason for the plight. To aid in his creation of such emotional conflict, turmoil and plight, the author has portrayed the sniper as a very controversial character in the story. This story is oriented around one character in the Civil War which he should not even be in as he is. mentioned to be a “student” in the story.
Liam O’Flaherty’s realistic fiction story, “The Sniper,” takes place in Dublin, Ireland, where there is a civil war waging between Republicans and Free Staters. The Republican sniper, who is the main character in the story, is fighting in the civil war for the Republican organization. There are numerous amounts of people who are attempting to assassinate the sniper because of his organization, and his enemies are located all around him waiting patiently until they gain their chance. The Republican sniper, however, leaps before he looks most times, thus leading to severe consequences throughout the story. By using description and suspense, O’Flaherty creates the lesson that actions, without thought, will lead to consequences.
As we saw earlier, both authors of both stories were born in different places and did many things. “The Sniper” sets in Dublin, Ireland, during a time of a bitter civil war. It was a war between the Republicans, which wanted Ireland to become ...
The main character of “The Sniper” is the republican sniper and the main character of the “Cranes” is Songsam. In “The Sniper”, the sniper is in a war and he is trying to kill his enemy. At the beginning of the story, he is on a rooftop near O’Connell Bridge lay watching. Beside him lay his rifle and over his shoulders was slung pair of field glasses. He looked like he was a student. He was self disciplined but was extremely devoted towards the war. He was eating a sandwich because he eaten nothing since morning. He is going to smoke but he paused and thought whether he should or shouldn’t but he did. In the “Cranes”, Korean War is going on. During this war, many villages along the thirty-eighth parallel changed hands several times.
"Could I forget that kingly man, Odysseus? There is no mortal half so wise; no mortal gave so much to the lords of the open sky." proclaims Zeus, the king of all gods in Homer's The Odyssey. He, among countless others, harbors high regards for Odysseus, the mastermind of the Trojan War turned lost sailor. However, the epic poem is sprinkled with the actions of gods and goddesses pushing Odysseus towards his path home to Ithaka, giving the mortal war hero little exposure to the limelight. So when does all the high and mighty talk of Odysseus' power prove true? Only in the absence of godly intervention can the title character live up to his name. In Homer's The Odyssey, excessive reliance on the gods' assistance weakens the overall effect of Odysseus as the hero; while, as a break from the norm, Odysseus' single-handed defeat of the Kyklops Polyphêmos adds true suspense to the story as well as merit to Odysseus' character.
The basic plot of the story is based during an evening within the Irish civil wars. It tells of a republican sniper sitting on a rooftop and neutralising enemy units as the cross a bridge. When a free-states sniper shows himself on an opposite roof they wage a fierce and innovative war to see who would end up the better. Eventually the republican sniper gains the upper hand and after taking a bullet in the arm destroys the worthy opponent. After a curious inspection to the identity of the enemy sniper he finds himself looking into the eyes of his dead brother.
The mood of the story is dark and weary. In this scene the sky is gloomy and there are Republican and Free Starter soldiers fighting in the Irish Civil war, “The long June twilight faded into the night. Dublin lay enveloped in darkness but for the dim light of the moon that shone through the fleecy clouds.. machine guns and rifles broke the silence of the night, spasmodically” (O’Flaherty 1). Although the mood of the story is creepy and dim for the most part, it is silent with the sudden sounds of guns firing. As the story progresses, the sniper’s emotions begin reflecting on his actions. He begins to feel guilt and remorse for killing someone and the mood shifts to tension and violence.
Homer’s The Odyssey is not just a tale of a man’s struggle on his journey home from the Trojan War, but of his struggle from the consequences of revenge. The Odyssey weaves in different characters’ tales of revenge from the gods and what impact revenge actually had on those characters. Revenge is an important underlying theme in The Odyssey because, in essence, it explains why Odysseus’ journey was so prolonged and treacherous. A few examples of revenge in the poem include Orestes’ revenge on Aegisthus, Zeus’ revenge on Odysseus and his men, and Poseidon’s revenge on Odysseus. These different examples of revenge in The Odyssey show the importance of the gods’ revenge in the epic journey of Odysseus.
The Odyssey details Odysseus’ arduous return to his homeland. Ten years have passed since the end of the Trojan war and Odysseus, the “most cursed man alive”, has been missing and presumed dead by many. (10.79). Throughout the novel, gods play a significant role in the fate of Odysseus and other characters. The extent of the gods’ role though is not unqualified, contrary to Telemachus’ suggestion that, “Zeus is to blame./He deals to each and every/ laborer on this earth whatever doom he pleases” (1.401-403). While Zeus does have this power, his description of how humans meet their fate is more accurately depicted throughout the novel. As he aptly points out, “from us alone, the say, come all their miseries, yes,/ but they themselves, with their own reckless ways,/ compound their pain beyond their proper share” (1.38-52). While the gods do doom certain mortals, many of these mortals exacerbate their ill fate by making rash decisions and ignoring the gods’ warnings. The gods are also not always disrupting mortals lives; they often aid mortals in need. In fact, mortals who effectively court the favor of the gods often benefit greatly. While the gods’ powers are unquestionable, no one god’s power is insurmountable. Gods can be outsmarted and their wrath escaped. The Odyssey, in congruence with Zeus’ statement, ultimately, portrays human freedom as existent, but limited.
In “The Sniper” the conflict is man vs man, which means main character is tasked with killing his enemy, but it proves to be quite a challenge. Even though there were many challenges the sniper followed through with his job and persevered even after he was shot in the arm. Wanting to kill his enemy, stay alive, and be one step closer to ending the war was his main goals. Being brave, he took off his hat, placed it on his gun, and raised it above the edge of the roof. Instantly the enemy shot at it and the sniper, pretending to be dead, waited until the enemy got up for him to shoot him. He did some quick thinking and, with determination, handled the conflict quite well.
Novelist and short story writer, Liam O’Flaherty grew up in a village on the western coast of Ireland. He was a good student when he was young, and when he grew older, he enlisted in the British Army. Later, after enlisting in the army, he began to write stories while he was in the war. Many of Liam O’Flaherty’s short stories about war, have become very popular throughout the world. One of his greatest, most popular stories, “The Sniper” has some of O’Flaherty’s experiences of being in the war. The short story, “The Sniper”, was published in the London paper, The New Leader, on January 12, 1923. Liam O’Flaherty was a World War I veteran. He wrote most of his stories while in the war. The stories he wrote, became very popular after the
Returning to the quotation “… the great leveler, Death: not even the gods/ can defend a man, not even one they love, that day/ when fate takes hold and lays him out at last’” (Homer 3.269-271). Death is a power that surpasses the gods. In The Odyssey we are introduced to gods who control the water, the wind, and the decisions of men. They can bring peace and war, but the one thing they cannot do is prevent a mortal’s fated death. This alone shows how central death is to The Odyssey. The power that death holds rivals no others in this story, there is “… no escape from death” (Homer 12.483). Death is a constant threat for Odysseus throughout this story, and the future foretold for Odysseus by Tiresias is not one of his life being a good one but of “…your own death will steal upon you…/ a gentle, painless death, far from the sea it comes to take you down…” (Homer 11.153-154). His fortune ends not with his happy life, but with his eventual death. This scene is crucial because it draws the reader back not to the life that Odysseus will have once he has successfully returned home and killed the suitors but the death that he will experience. It draws it back to when and where Odysseus will die and take his place among the
The setting to “The Sniper” plays a vital role in understanding the meaning O’Flaherty was trying to convey. The main character is sitting on a rooftop near O’Connell Bridge in Dublin Ireland. During the Irish Civil War, the river that flowed beneath the bridge, was the dividing line in the Battle of Dublin. From the beginning, when civilians watched the opening attacks from atop the bridge, to the end, when it shook from the final bombing that forced the Republicans to surrender, the bridge was a key factor to the end result of the war. (Black,