Literary Analysis Of The Sniper

1569 Words4 Pages

Darkness surrounds the sniper as he lies quietly on a rooftop with his rifle in his hands. As he awaits his enemies below him, stalking them like prey. Liam O’Flaherty author of “The Sniper,” uses this young man to represent a battle raging in the man’s country. A battle is raging on in the Irish nation forcing soldiers to kill one another. Liam O’Flaherty gives a powerful opinion on the conflict taking place, using various literary techniques to catch the reader’s eyes. His overall structure contributes to development of themes in the theme in the paper. A single country torn apart by civil war causes the streets to run red with the blood of one another.
A Republican sniper awaits on a rooftop while an enemy’s armored vehicle pulls up. He awaits firing his rifle because the steel is impenetrable by his bullets, finally a man emerges and is killed immediately by the sniper’s bullet along with a woman standing nearby. Gunfire from another …show more content…

Stated in the story is that the sniper “has the cold gleam of a fanatic in his eyes” showing he is used to war. Also by stating “he is used to looking at death” this revealed that the sniper had seen many dead human beings, along with killing them. When the sniper eats his sandwich the author says he does so hungrily, meaning by instinct like an animal. Even when smoking he does so quickly due to the training he has gone through to be a sniper, his discipline. When the sniper kills the other sniper to finish the story his curiosity draws him to finding the identity of the person he has killed. Coming to the realization of the bitterness and evil the war has brought out in him. Finally the sniper looks into the eyes of the man and finds out the man is his brother, in fact saying that the sniper has killed another human being due to the evil within his

Show More
Related

  • The Things They Carried’ by Tim O’Brien

    1243 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kyle, C with McEwen, S., DeFrelice, J. (2012) American sniper: the autobiography of the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history. American sniper : the autobiography of the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history. Chris Kyle Author. Retrieved from http://libserve.ivytech.edu.allstate.libproxy.ivytech.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=514&recCount=20&recPointer=0&bibId=366194

    Read More

  • Comparing The Sniper 'And' Just Lather That's All

    526 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Media's Take on The Beltway Sniper Attacks

    1233 Words  | 3 Pages

    Johnson, Peter. "Like the Sniper, Story Seems Unstoppable." USATODAY.com. N.p., 23 Oct. 2002. Web. 29 May 2013. .

    Read More

  • Uncle Basil In The Sniper

    495 Words  | 1 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • In Liam O'Flaherty´s The Sniper, all of these are brought to an acute reality in a single war-torn city.

    1049 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Sniper by Liam O´Flaherty and Just Lather, That´s All by Hernando Tellez

    957 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Liam O Flaherty's Use Of Suspense In The Sniper

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Comparing Short Stories “The Sniper” and “The Most Dangerous Game”

    1005 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 ...

    Read More

  • Who Is The Antagonist In The Sniper

    1070 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the story “The sniper”, the sniper face an external conflict and an internal conflict. His external conflict was the enemy sniper. He saw an old woman heading towards the man in the turret. The old woman was pointing at the sniper. Sniper thought

    Read More

  • The Sniper by Liam O'Flaherty

    411 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • American Sniper: Comparing The Movie And The Book

    530 Words  | 2 Pages

    After watching the movie and then reading the book American Sniper I noticed a few different things. Comparing the two and thinking about the similarities and differences. There are not many differences from the movie American sniper and the book American Sniper except that the book talks about his childhood life more. The comparison between the two is interesting because Chris Kyle wrote one while other people directed the other.

    Read More

  • Contradicting Character of The Sniper

    1123 Words  | 3 Pages

    By contrast, the Sniper also possesses many traits of an amateur soldier. He is described as having “the face of a student”, and had been fasting because “he was too excited to eat”. The word “student” has the connotation of one who is young, inexperienced, and still learning, while his excitement implies that this fighting was new to him, because most people tend to be excited at new experiences.  Furthermore, when passage states that as he heard the enemy car draw nearer “his heart beat faster”, which is another portrayal of his eagerness and desire to fight. Thus we see a disparity in the Sniper’s character, which is both experienced and amateur.

    Read More

  • The Sniper Mood Essay

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Film American Sniper

    1587 Words  | 4 Pages

    "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

    Read More

  • Compare and Contrast

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    The theme of The Sniper was the civil war and how war can destroy a man both in body and mind for the rest of his life. Liam O’Flaherty suggests the horror of war not only by presenting its physical dangers, but also by showing its psychological effects. We are left to wonder which has the longer lasting effect-the visible physical scars or the ones on the inside? The theme of The Most Dangerous Game was hunter hunted and shows the author's point of view on how one who has intellect can overcome one who has intelligence or instinct. The two stories are similar in showing that even under pressure a man can use his reasoning to keep him alive.

    Read More

More about Literary Analysis Of The Sniper

Open Document