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“War does not determine who is right- only who is left”. A man named Bertrand Russell who is a British author, mathematician, and philosopher had stated this. In both the poem, “The Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy and the short story “The Sniper” by Liam O'Flaherty are about war and how it can tear people apart emotionally and mentally. Therefore, both of them have similarities and differences within the plot, irony, and the theme.
To start, both the sniper and the soldier had killed a man because of war. For one from “The Sniper” an example is, “When the sniper reached the laneway on the street level, he felt a sudden curiosity as to the identity of the enemy sniper whom he had killed” (O’Flaherty 208). After the sniper killed the other soldier he wondered if he knew him, so he bolted across the avenue
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to investigate. In other words, from “The Man He Killed” another example is, “I shot at him as he at me, and killed him in his place” (Hardy 7-8). As the enemy was shooting at him, the man shot a bullet at him and it had punctured his body and knocked him dead. The sniper on the other hand, had killed his brother and not a stranger. A sentence from the text is when he goes to look at the dead body, “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face”(O’Flaherty 208). When he finally reached the body of a familiar man, he flipped the corpse over and saw his brothers face. In “The Man He Killed” he killed a man that was his foe, but he was a lot like him. In contrast, “I shot him head because- because he was my foe, just so: my foe of course he was”(Hardy 9-11). They both may have killed a man in war, but the men that were killed could have or did have some sort of connection with them. To point out, after they killed the men they both had felt some sort of emotion within them.
Proof from “The Sniper” is when he was watching the corpse plummet to the ground, “The lust of battle died in him. He became bitten by remorse”(O’Flaherty 208). He was mournful and full of sorrows because he had killed his brother. Likewise, the other text was very similar, “He thought he’d ‘list, perhaps, offhand like-- just as I-- was out of work-- had sold his traps” (Hardy 16-18). The man was just like that too, he had sold his things and needed to work, so he decides to join the army. In difference, they had different type of irony. In “The Sniper” there is situational irony, at the end of the short story when he discovers who it was that he killed, “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face”(O’Flaherty 208). On the other hand, in “The Man He Killed” there was verbal irony, “Yes, quaint and curious war is! You shoot a fellow down you'd treat if met where any bar is, or help to half-a-crown(Hardy 17-20). All in all, in both the short story and the poem there was irony, which is when the opposite of what is expected
occurs. Also in both of the pieces it shows the assassins feeling pain and suffering after killing their enemies. For instance, to support that is, “His teeth chattered, he began to gibber to himself, cursing the war, cursing himself, cursing everybody”(O'Flaherty 208). The assassin was suppressed with emotions of sadness due to the death of that man. Within Thomas Hardy’s piece of literature it states, “That’s clear enough; although”(Hardy 12). Even though he killed the other man, he thought he was just a foe, until emotions had hit him and he started to re-think everything. However, the difference within the theme of the two pieces are about how war can tear families and possible friends apart. Therefore, the short story reads “The machine gun stopped. Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face” (O’Flaherty 208). Furthermore, the man had killed someone that could have been a close friend to him if it wasn’t for war “Had he and I but met by some old ancient inn, we should have sat us down to wet right many a nipperkin!”(Hardy 1-4). If they would have met anywhere else, but on a battlefield they would of sat down, had a drink and become good friends, if he needed a coin, he would have given him a coin.. All in all, both of those men had murdered because that was their job and they were both inside a battlefield. To conclude, they were family in “The Sniper” and they could have been really close friends in “The Man He Killed” if they were not on opposite sides and at odds.
Throughout the historic course of literature, one story known as “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Cornell has incorporated specific types of irony for multiple differing and fundamental reasons. Situational irony is the first use of ironic elements that will be discussed in regards to the story. Situational irony is defined as “an incongruity that appears between the expectations of something to happen, and what actually happens instead ” (literarydevices.net). The story’s climax offers a unique twist to the plot as it includes an unexpected discovery, ultimately incorporating situational irony into the sequence of events. The story starts out with the introduction of the legendary hunter Bob Rainsford as he is shipwrecked and trapped on a deserted island. While staying on the island, Rainsford is introduced to the eccentric General Zaroff, who is a self proclaimed expert hunter as well. In short, the General turns out to be a sadistic psychopath who forces Rainsford into a game of “cat and mouse”, which causes Rainsford to fight for his life. This state of affair is considered to be situational irony because Zaroff defies the expectations of being a hunter to the audience. This is specifically shown in the text when Rainsford confronts General Zaroff in regards to what he is hunting:
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.
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.
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 ...
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
The poet Wilfred Owen was one of many poets who were against war. He reflected this idea of anti-war in his poems, one of his poems called “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, mirrors most aspects of war all put together in this short still deep poem. An example of that would be when the speaker stated,” What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?”(1) The speaker asks is there any sound that marks our soldier’s death other than the sounds of church bell’s which are mostly rung to represent somebody’s absence? Clearly, the speaker sets anger as the tone of the poem through this question to show that soldier’s death is unremarkable.. The speaker compares the soldiers to a “cattle” which illustrates that soldiers are treated more like animals with no feelings and also shows how they are killed indiscriminately in war. Finally the line ironically contains an iambic pentameter which is a natural rhythm for such dark, grim, dull subject. The two novels, The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, and All Quiet on The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, both present a similar idea of how soldiers are killed out there in the front comprehensively and the dehumanization of war towards its soldiers. The first novel is set during the Civil War, and it focuses on the psychological aspects of one soldier named Henry Fleming and how his naive thoughts about war constantly change through the course of the novel. The second novel presents the life of a soldier named Paul Baumer and his friends who were faced with the terribleness of war and how severely it affected their lives. The Red badge of Courage and All Quiet on The Western Front are similar in the way of how the main characters develop through the novel to change from naïve and innocent men ...
In conclusion, the Sniper is, interestingly, a complete contradiction in himself. He is both experienced and amateur, cold and emotional, lusting after war and hating it, self-assured and vulnerable, and logical and mad. This stark paradox may create much of the inner conflict that goes on within the Sniper, and also reflects the outer conflict of the Irish war- a war where both sides are essentially opposing parts of the same whole.
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.
Both the novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, and the poem "The Man he Killed" by Thomas Hardy discuss war. Through both the novel and the poem, it is articulated how the soldiers personally feel about the war and their experiences during the war. The protagonist of the novel, Paul Baumer, and the speaker of the poem both share comparable emotions. Both enroll in the war for reasons other than patriotism, their perception towards war is very analogous, they kill their enemy merely to stay alive and they go to the extent of feeling that if not for the war, they could have been friends with their "enemies".
In the story “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty, teaches readers how was makes humans less of human beings. In the beginning of the story the author explains how the main character or “the Sniper” obtained “eyes of a man who was used to looking at death.” This part in the short story shows implies how often this man has looked at someone dead or that he has killed. The fact that he continues to do his job and let the war take control of him. Whenever he kills a man, the person on the other end is not someone he knows, everyone is just an enemy. Over his in the Army, he had been washed of all his feelings, which make him allowed to do his job. Towards the middle of the story, he notices that a woman was giving the enemy his position. As was happening,
War can destroy a man both in body and mind for the rest of his life. In “The Sniper,” 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 protagonist is faced with similar scenarios as was Kyle, such as the decision of shooting the man on the roof, or letting him go free. Many arguments may be made on what is morally right, but in the end, all that matters is survival itself, and doing what needs to be done. There are no rules in war, therefore all reasoning to what may be moral must be put aside. While this may be the case, human nature will eventually set in, and remorse can flood a soldier’s conscience. This was made apparent when the sniper broke down and cursed the war, providing for a turning point in the story.
The poem describes Richard Corey as a young, handsome, and fit gentlemen in the town. He was believed to be superior to most gentlemen in town and walked as the perfect man. However in the end of the poem he commits suicide. “One calm summer night, went home and put a bullet through his head” (line 16) is a perfect example of verbal irony. In this point of the poem the reader must be shocked by what has occurred. The verbal irony is presented when the poet mentions the act of suicide. In the beginning he is a description of perfectibility, but towards the end he commits suicide. The irony here is how does a man commit suicide with a perfect