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Now and then character analysis
Now and then character analysis
Use of Symbolism
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In the short story “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty, the sniper is a man caught in a tragic situation. First of all, when the sniper had killed the old lady and the man from the turret, the text states, “The sniper looked at his enemy falling and he shuddered. The lust of battle died in him. He became bitten by remorse” (O’Flaherty 214). This states how the sniper feel guilty or responsible for the enemies death even though he was only doing his job. As he shivered, he feels sorrow for the death of them yet has to keep doing his job. In addition, the end of the story shows how the sniper reacts when he finds out who the enemy sniper he had killed was. The author writes, “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s
face” (O’Flaherty 215). This implies that the sniper had killed a man that he was once close to, for they are brothers. Moreover, if a man had found out that their brother were dead, they would feel great distress and sadness for their loss. Now, if a man found out that they had been the cause of their brothers death, they would feel even more guilt and despair for him. This shows how the sniper is truly a man caught in a tragic situation.
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.
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.
These men are transformed into guilt-laden soldiers in less than a day, as they all grapple for a way to come to terms with the pain of losing a comrade. In an isolated situation, removed from the stressors, anxieties, and uncertainties of war, perhaps they may have come to a more rational conclusion as to who is deserving of blame. But tragically, they cannot come to forgive themselves for something for which they are not even guilty. As Norman Bowker so insightfully put it prior to his unfortunate demise, war is “Nobody’s fault, everybody’s” (197).
Murder is a reprobate action that is an inevitable part of war. It forces humans into immoral acts, which can manifest in the forms such as shooting or close combat. The life of a soldier is ultimately decided from the killer, whether or not he follows through with his actions. In the short stories The Sniper by Liam O'Flaherty and Just Lather, That's All by Hernando Téllez, the killer must decide the fate of their victims under circumstantial constraints. The two story explore the difference between killing at a close proximity compared to killing at a distance, and how they affect the killer's final decision.
His quick thinking and desperate attempts to avoid an intricate situation ends with him killing his enemy, but the consequence is later revealed at the end of the short story. O’Flaherty writes, “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face” (4). In other words, the enemy that the Republican sniper shoots at the end of the passage was not only his enemy, but his brother. The action of killing his brother shows that the Republican sniper is to blame because he takes action, without much thought, and does not consider that he is shooting his own flesh and blood. The Free Stater sniper is utterly the same as the Republican sniper because he views his enemy the exact same way. He does not ruminate on whether his enemy lives a different life outside of the war. Another sentence that is prominent in showing the mindset of the snipers wanting to create bloodshed from each other is, “ He must kill that enemy…” (3). O’Flaherty writes this to showcase the Republican sniper’s thoughts and feelings through his elaborate plan to assassinate the opposing sniper. The Republican sniper merely deliberates on how he will eliminate his
As a socialistic society we live in we find ourselves in positions were conflicts arise between friends or family. 'The Sniper'; was written by Liam O ' Flaherty to express a subtle yet powerful opinion on such a conflict. With references this essay will analyse the short story bringing to light the structure used to contribute to the theme.
In the chapter “ghost soldiers” shame and guilt is shown by O’Brien and how he so mad that he got shot. In the chapter O’Brien did not think that getting shot in the but was an honorable way out of the war. O’Brien is mad at the fact that Bobby could have killed him. “He has to lay on his stomach every night because of the pain you caused him”(O’Brien 182).He is so flustered that he will never be one hundred again.O’Brien also thinks that Bobby should pay for what he did to
Comparing the three stories “The Dogs Could Teach Me,” “The Flowers,” and “The Sniper,” “The Sniper” demonstrates the best suspenseful text between the three stories. To create a suspenseful story, “The Sniper” develops multiple moments of suspense. For instance, one illustration of suspense in “The Sniper” is “He paused for a moment, considering whether he should risk a smoke. It was dangerous. The flash might be seen in the darkness, and there were enemies watching. He decided to take the risk.” This is a suspenseful moment in “The Sniper” because if the sniper risks to smoke, he will be giving away his position and could be shot at by the enemies. Another representation of suspense is “Pressing his lips together, he took a deep breath through his nostrils and
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.
"There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful thananything that bleeds. Don 't wait until you break. - Laurell Hamilton" This is oftentimes the sentiment felt by soldiers who have served in active duty and have been witnesses to tragedies that leave them emotionally scarred. The Clint Eastwood directed film, American Sniper is amovie that features the real life tragedy of American soldier, Chris Kyle, who served in theUnited States military as a Navy Seal, which is an elite group (Kenny, 2014 and Treitschke,2015). His story is unique in that he himself suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD), but as he worked to recover, he valiantly served again by helping fellow soldiers withPTSD ("Chris Kyle," 2013), and was senselessly gunned
Some people procure a tough time getting over the fact that they actually killed a human being. That would be hard for anyone, especially just starting out at war. Tim O’ Brien was obviously torn up when telling about his experience of taking someone’s life in his speech. Tim had to realize that the guy he killed would have done the same thing to him if the situation had been switched around. His speech unveiled that he lived in constant fear during his first few days at war.
In the short story “The Sniper,” author Liam O’Flaherty deals with a conflict that still has divided ireland since the civil war ended, showing few signs of lessening. The fighting takes place in the heart of Dublin, Ireland, after sundown. The Irish Republican Army is engaged in a civil war with the Free State. The youthful main character, the Republican sniper, has been affected by the war and is now a fanatical looking soldier, forced by warfare to grow up too fast. The sniper needs to operate as a seasoned warrior in order to live. If he fails to develop as a cunning fighter, he will not survive. “The Sniper” emphasizes a profound irony of civil war: A brother is pitted against his own brother---who, ironically, is poised to kill the republican
The author of “The Sniper” is James Riordan. James Riordan created a name for himself as a respected Russianist, and children’s author and translator. Riordan is relatively qualified to write a story based on the snipers of Stalingrad, for he spent an amount of time researching the topic in Russia. In Moscow, Riordan studied Russian politics and history, becoming well versed on the rising of The Communist Party (Riley). Much of Riordan’s life was spent studying and debating Russian politics and history, making him relatively qualified to write “The Sniper.” One could argue that Riordan held extreme political opinions, which could cause a story to fall towards subjectivity. However, the story has remained extremely politically neutral, and “The Sniper” is fictional; a subjective fictional
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