Liam O Flaherty The Sniper Essay

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Patrick Richman F 5/08/2024 Liam O’Flaherty: The Sniper Liam O’Flaherty, born in 1896, grew up on the island of Inishmore, off the coast of Ireland. O’Flaherty was well known for his short stories, with authentic views on life. Throughout his career, he has written a total of 36 novels and short stories, one that's been turned into a movie, that he helped produce. Among these writings, one of his most popular stories is “The Sniper’’. The themes and characters in Liam O’Flaherty’s “The Sniper”, reflect his first-hand experiences of World War I, and the Irish Civil War, as a member of the lower class. Paragraph one- Birth, Childhood, Schooling O’Flaherty was born in 1896, on the island of Inishmore. Inishmore is located off the western coast …show more content…

The sniper, whose job it is to kill, has one reason he is doing it, and that is to defend his country. The old lady wants the war to end, so she informs one of the opposing soldiers of the sniper's position, which gets her killed. All of the characters, unnamed, have no true identity other than “The Sniper”, and “Old Woman.” The characters in “The Sniper” continuously support the theme of the story. War dehumanizes people, and there is no winner. Theme paragraph The theme in Liam O’Flaherty’s “The Sniper”, reflects his first-hand experiences of World War I, and the Irish Civil War, as a member of the lower class. His story illustrates the pain of war and the toll it takes on the people fighting in the war, and the people spectating it. For example, when the sniper was confronted with a sniper on the opposition, he pulled the trigger by thinking twice. Shortly after, he was stone cold, possibly regretting his decision. This event helps illustrate one of the themes in “The Sniper,” that nobody wins in war, even if one side survives longer than the other. The Sniper can be found in libraries of elementary schools in Ireland, due to the moral lesson it teaches, that fighting is not the

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