Preview

The Sniper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
499 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Sniper
War is a very controversial dilemma, which could be solved in an orderly fashion rather then a callous disaster where young men and women die. This cataclysmic story takes place in a short story written by Liam O'Flaherty, the story takes place in Dublin, Ireland during the 1920's where a Republican sniper is involved with a terrible accident. He suffers dramatic injury to the soul and heart when someone that he loves dearly is shot. The story's theme is intensified through situational irony, which shows the pointlessness of armed conflict.
<br>
<br>Unexpected senseless occurrences happen when situational irony comes to effect. Like the time the Republican sniper unnecessarily lights up a smoke, which glows and shows his location on a rooftop; the irony unexpectedly occurs when an old lady whom is a spy descries the Republican sniper. This incident is ironic because one doesn't expect for an old lady to be a spy because old crumbly elders can barely move. This shows that the sniper commits such an imprudent occasion as to light up a smoke, which could have gotten him killed right on the spot. Many other ironic moments take place such as the time a free state sniper was in a armored truck, which is basically like a tank, and he gets out of the his cage and then gets capped. This is ironic because why would someone do something as foolish as getting out of protection and giving himself a death wish, which concludes why war is pointless because all that's going to happen is doom. This also shows that war is needless because all one is doing is hurting himself by killing a related specie. Furthermore, war can be even more ironic like the time when the Republican sniper unknowingly shoots his loved one, whom is his own brother. This is ironic because people usually that are family, don't have very many different beliefs. This also unveils that war is pointless and ironic because after a war everybody seems to regret what had happened. This short story was exposed in a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Situational Irony: “ irony involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended, so that the outcome is contrary to what was expected.” In All Summer in a Day, the author creates situational irony. The situational irony in this short story is that Margot is deprived from seeing the sun. She was the only one, out of all her classmates, that had memory of the sun, therefore she had the greatest longing to see it again.…

    • 219 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The setting in Liam O’Flaherty’s “The Sniper” enables the story’s action and conflict because it is set during the Irish civil war. To begin, this story short had both internal and external conflicts. The external conflict is, person vs person between the sniper and the enemy sniper. The setting of this story enables that conflict because of how dangerous his surroundings are. On page 5 of this short story, there is a quote describing how unsafe the setting really is. “Here and there through the city, machine guns and rifles broke the silence of the night, spasmodically, like dogs barking on lone farms.”(O’Flaherty, 2000, p.5). It clearly states how he can hear random gunfire around him. Because of this war, the sniper is forced to shoot the…

    • 350 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Liam O’ Flaherty’s short story “The Sniper”, two strangers in an irish civil war, embarrass in a conflict between themselves. The story has a more true and deeper meaning, how war can be so blind and numb to the body. How war can bring two strangers completely opposite from each other, together to find out what war actually is. The short story is truing to send out a true message to the world. That war is truly brother against brother and that it is not necessary in the world. Liam O’ Flaherty is trying to put an image in our heads. Imagine life without fighting or any type of conflict between countries or ourselves.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The story ends ironically when the IRA sniper realizes that the enemy he killed was his own brother. But there are larger ironies here: first, that all of the sniper’s Free State enemies are, in a sense, his brothers, for they had been comrades in arms fighting for the same cause; second, that all men are brothers as descendants of Adam and Eve. When they fight, they become Cain and Abel. No doubt, the IRA sniper now wonders about the identities of the turret gunner, the old woman, and the person manning the machine gun.…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Situational Irony- Occurs when incongruity appears between expectations of something to happen, and what actually happens instead. " Clevinger was a genius... a Harvard undergraduate... [going] far in the academic world... In short, he was a dope." (Heller, 68) Heller uses this quote to reveal a constant problem in what we conceive as intelligent. We normally assume that Harvard graduates are the smartest people; however, Heller is talking about the difference between book smarts and street smarts. This is important because in war, there is no real need for book smarts.…

    • 1487 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    After long hours and days of hard training to get to where soldiers are now they have to be in such great shape and every single day their life is on the line, but one day with one mistake there life is now over. “In The Sniper”, by Liam O’ Flaherty, the theme is War has the potential to destroy ones humanity. War destroys humans in many ways, like soldiers getting hurt for the rest of their lives, injured for a long period of time or even worse killed. In some cases you can kill family members without even knowing it. In the sniper at the end of the story it says “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face”. War can also make people go crazy about everything especially mentally or it…

    • 262 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The American Sniper

    • 1195 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The title alone sums the movie up perfectly and drawing out all suspicion or notions that this is not just some war movie, instead more of noble story of America's own navy SEAL Chris Kyle and one of the us military's most deadly sniper with a confirmed kill count of 160 souls and over 200 claimed kills . He also holds a marksman title for 2100 yard confirmed kill ,that is essentially shooting a man from over 21 football fields away and much like the life of the great hero we enter a crucial scene in the beginning of the film with a scenario just like that famous shot only slightly closer.…

    • 1195 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In 1922-1923 the Irish Civil War began and ended with outcomes that changed the people who fought in the war. Through the experiences that the people in the war have gone through, killing their enemies, they did not realize that every shot they fired would take a piece of their humanity. People never really knew what happened in the war or what the people in the war had to deal with. However, O' Flaherty has given people insight of what went on in the war, through his short story, "The Sniper." Through character development, characterization, and foreshadowing the author shows the grave consequences of war.…

    • 105 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Dc Sniper

    • 1072 Words
    • 5 Pages

    During October 2, 2002 a series of murders started to happen around Washington D.C area, as well as in the Baltimore area. Five shootings attacks occurred in a fifteen hours period, which continued on for another three weeks. People were surrounded by fear and authorities did not have any clues of what or why these shootings were happening. Different messages and signs were left at the scene of the crime by the killer, but still nothing solid enough to have any suspects. The shootings took places in different establishments like, gas stations, restaurants, super markets, and even near schools. Victims were selected at random, and there was not a specific gender, age group, or even an ethnicity background that was being targeted. It was determined by investigators that the killings always occurred near highways in order for the shooter to have an easy access to an escape route. The weapon of choice used by D.C Sniper was a Bushmaster XM-15 semiautomatic .223 caliber rifle. There were not any witnesses that could offer any solid description or any information. The police set up hotlines so citizens could report any suspicious activity, as well as a mailbox to receive any tips via mail. However, not enough information was gathered ( FBI, 2007).…

    • 1072 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wars can have a devastating effect on families and people. The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty tells the story of a sniper, who is unnamed, kills others and fights for his life during a war in Ireland. The story clearly shows how destructive a war can be to a human being as well as a country. It also uses narrative structure to highlight the theme.…

    • 448 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Duty First

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the story “Guests of the Nation” the author Frank O’Connor paints the reader a picture of the brutality of war and the unbelievable battle of every man for himself.…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sniper Essay

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Have you ever been forced to do something that could possibly affect you for the rest of your life? Well, in this short story a man was forced into a war that ended up having physical and mental affects on him. In the short story “The Sniper”, author Liam O’Flaherty suggests the horror of war on a personal level by presenting not only its physical dangers, but its psychological effects as well.…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I am going to write a series of journal entries as a Sniper. I am a young adult involved in a Civil War of Dublin. I want to show the feeling of what it is like to be a part of Civil War, to be a sniper. The feeling of what it is like to kill someone.…

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Sniper

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages

    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?…

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    War Analysis

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages

    War is a state that never lets a human being indifferent(leaves individuals indifferent). That being said, it is also a period related to contradiction where almost every aspect of it can be juged with different perceptions, depending on people's position je dirais peut-etre plus: This subjective conflict acts as an impartial divider between two opposing sides where objectivity no longer resides. People set aside their similarities and accentuate their predisposed differences, however minimal they may be. For example(In addition), a soldier from a specific country can be seen as a hero and as(enleve le mot) a murderer at the same time,(depending on the viewpoint) . This contrast involving the good and the bad is reflected in the caracter of Liam O'Flaherty's short story "The Sniper"(met l’annee de publication entre parentheses). Whether it is by his presentation, his mental activity or by his actions, the sniper's character is definitely a subject to debate on.…

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays