The Sniper

BY LIAM O'FLAHERTY

The long June twilight faded into night. Dublin lay enveloped in darkness but for the dim light of the moon that shone through fleecy clouds, casting a pale light as of approaching dawn over the streets and the dark waters of the Liffey. Around the beleaguered Four Courts the heavy guns roared. Here and there through the city, machine guns and rifles broke the silence of the night, spasmodically, like dogs barking on lone farms. Republicans and Free Staters were waging civil war.

On a rooftop near O'Connell Bridge, a Republican sniper lay watching. Beside him lay his rifle and over his shoulders was slung a pair of field glasses. His face was the face of a student, thin and ascetic, but his eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic. They were deep and thoughtful, the eyes of a man who is used to looking at death.

He was eating a sandwich hungrily. He had eaten nothing since morning. He had been too excited to eat. He finished the sandwich, and, taking a flask of whisky from his pocket, he took a short drought. Then he returned the flask to his pocket. 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.

Placing a cigarette between his lips, he struck a match, inhaled the smoke hurriedly and put out the light. Almost immediately, a bullet flattened itself against the parapet of the roof. The sniper took another whiff an put out the cigarette. Then he swore softly and crawled away to the left.

Cautiously he raised himself and peered over the parapet. There was a flash and a bullet whizzed over his head. He dropped

immediately. He had seen the flash. It came from the opposite side of the street.

He rolled over the roof to a chimney stack in the rear, and slowly drew himself up behind it, until his eyes were level with the top of the parapet. There was nothing to be seen--just the dim outline of the opposite housetop against the blue sky. His enemy was under cover.

Just then an armored car came across the bridge and advanced slowly up the street. It stopped on the opposite side of the street, fifty yards ahead. The sniper could hear the dull panting of the motor. His heart beat faster. It was an enemy car. He wanted to fire, but he knew it was useless. His bullets would never pierce the steel that covered the gray monster.

Then round the corner of a side street came an old woman, her head covered by a tattered shawl. She began to talk to the man in the turret of the car. She was pointing to the roof where the sniper lay. An informer.

The turret opened. A man's head and shoulders appeared, looking toward the sniper. The sniper raised his rifle and fired. The head fell heavily on the turret wall. The woman darted toward the side street. The sniper fired again. The woman whirled round and fell with a shriek into the gutter.

Suddenly from the opposite roof a shot rang out and the sniper dropped his rifle with a curse. The rifle clattered to the roof. The sniper thought the noise would wake the dead. He stooped to pick the rifle up. He couldn't lift it. His forearm was dead. "I'm hit," he muttered.

Dropping flat onto the roof, he crawled back tot the parapet. With his left hand he felt the injured right forearm. The blood was oozing through the sleeve of his coat. There was no pain--just a deadened

sensation, as if the arm had been cut off.

Quickly he drew his knife from his pocket, opened it on the breastwork of the parapet, and ripped open the sleeve. There was a small hole where the bullet had entered. On the other side there was not hole. The bullet had lodged in the bone. It must have fractured it. He bent the arm below the wound. the arm bent back easily. He ground his teeth overcome the pain.

Then taking out his field dressing, he ripped open the packet with his knife. He broke the neck of the iodine bottle and let the bitter fluid drip into the wound. A paroxysm of pain swept through him. He placed the cotton wadding over the wound and wrapped the dressing over it. He tied the ends with his teeth.

Then he lay still against the parapet, and, closing his eyes, he made an effort of will to overcome the pain.

In the street beneath all was still. The armored car had retired speedily over the bridge, with the machine gunner's head hanging lifeless over the turret. The woman's corpse lay still in the gutter.

The sniper lay still for a long time nursing his wounded arm and planning escape. Morning must not find him wounded on the roof. The enemy on the opposite roof coverd his escape. He must kill that enemy and he could not use his rifle. He had only a revolver to do it. Then he thought of a plan.

Taking off his cap, he placed it over the muzzle of his rifle. Then he pushed the rifle slowly upward over the parapet, until the cap was visible from the opposite side of the street. Almost immediately there was a report, and a bullet pierced the center of the cap. The sniper slanted the rifle forward. The cap clipped down into the street. Then catching the rifle in the middle, the sniper dropped his left hand over the roof and let it hang, lifelessly. After a few moments he let the rifle drop to the street. Then he sank to the roof,

dragging his hand with him.

Crawling quickly to his feet, he peered up at the corner of the roof. His ruse had succeeded. The other sniper, seeing the cap and rifle fall, thought that he had killed his man. He was now standing before a row of chimney pots, looking across, with his head clearly silhouetted against the western sky.

The Republican sniper smiled and lifted his revolver above the edge of the parapet. The distance was about fifty yards--a hard shot in the dim light, and his right arm was paining him like a thousand devils. He took a steady aim. His hand trembled with eagerness. Pressing his lips together, he took a deep breath through his nostrils and fired. He was almost deafened with the report and his arm shook with the recoil.

Then when the smoke cleared, he peered across and uttered a cry of joy. His enemy had been hit. He was reeling over the parapet in his death agony. He struggled to keep his feet, but he was slowly falling forward as if in a dream. The rifle fell from his grasp, hit the parapet, fell over, bounded off the pole of a barber's shop beneath and then clattered on the pavement.

Then the dying man on the roof crumpled up and fell forward. The body turned over and over in space and hit the ground with a dull thud. Then it lay still.

The sniper looked at his enemy falling and he shuddered. The lust of battle died in him. He became bitten by remorse. The sweat stood out in beads on his forehead. Weakened by his wound and the long summer day of fasting and watching on the roof, he revolted from the sight of the shattered mass of his dead enemy. His teeth chattered, he began to gibber to himself, cursing the war, cursing himself, cursing everybody.

He looked at the smoking revolver in his hand, and with an oath he

hurled it to the roof at his feet. The revolver went off with a concussion and the bullet whizzed past the sniper's head. He was frightened back to his senses by the shock. His nerves steadied. The cloud of fear scattered from his mind and he laughed.

Taking the whiskey flask from his pocket, he emptied it a drought. He felt reckless under the influence of the spirit. He decided to leave the roof now and look for his company commander, to report. Everywhere around was quiet. There was not much danger in going through the streets. He picked up his revolver and put it in his pocket. Then he crawled down through the skylight to the house underneath.

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. He decided that he was a good shot, whoever he was. He wondered did he know him. Perhaps he had been in his own company before the split in the army. He decided to risk going over to have a look at him. He peered around the corner into O'Connell Street. In the upper part of the street there was heavy firing, but around here all was quiet.

The sniper darted across the street. A machine gun tore up the ground around him with a hail of bullets, but he escaped. He threw himself face downward beside the corpse. The machine gun stopped.

Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother's face.

Liam O’Flaherty’s “The Sniper” and the Irish Civil War, by Megan Johnson06/01/2011 02:16 pm

Liam O’Flaherty’s “The Sniper” and the Irish Civil War --McCrimmon Award Runner-up-- (Megan Johnson)

The period of 1921-23 in Ireland and Great Britain was one of turmoil,

violence, and political opposition. Debates over religion, Home Rule, and the

Irish Free State (what is now Northern Ireland), divided the small island

nation into many factions which fought in the streets of Dublin and across

the countryside. Amidst the turmoil, Liam O’Flaherty, a World War I veteran,

produced literature which described in vivid detail the horrors of war and the

effects violence could have on both civilians and soldiers.

At the opening of his 1923 short story, “The Sniper,” O’Flaherty describes the

scene as “enveloped in darkness but for the dim light of the moon […] heavy

guns roared […and] Republicans and Free Staters were waging civil war” (1).

The protagonist is an unnamed soldier who waits on a rooftop in 1922,

hungry and tired, to perform his sole task- to kill. He is a Republican, one

who favors Home Rule and the unification of Ireland. The enemy sniper is a

Free Stater, one who supports the separation of the six counties of Ulster or

Northern Ireland. The fighting takes place near the Four Courts of Dublin, the

seat of Irish Parliament. “The Irish Civil War [of 1922] began with the Free

State’s bombing of the Four Courts” (“Irish”) and continued for roughly one

year, including the skirmish detailed in “The Sniper.”

One of the main appeals of “The Sniper” is the surprise found in the final

sentence. O’Flaherty shocked his audience when the sniper “reached the

laneway on the street level [and] felt a sudden curiosity as to the identity of

the enemy sniper whom he had killed” (3). Because of the nature of the war

his is involved in, the sniper thinks he might know his victim, “then the

sniper turn[s] over the dead body and look[s] into his brother’s face” (3). The

shock and brutality of this ending leave the reader stunned by the ideas of

such monstrous occurrences, but such events were not uncommon in the

Ireland of 1922 and 1923. Unfortunately, “it is a curious fact that the Irish

Civil War of 1922-23 often found brothers fighting on opposite sides” (Boyce

106). Divisions also occurred between parents and children, or one parent

and some children against the rest of the family. To many, the Civil War was

known as the Cogadh na gCarad or “War of the Friends” (106).

To some readers it may seem odd that the sniper wishes to know the identity

of the man whom he killed, but when so many former friends face each other

across battle lines, it makes sense that he would want to know. He could

have easily walked away from the body, gone back to his unit, eaten and

slept, as soldiers in other wars would have likely done. Instead, the situation

compels him to check the identity of his adversary, who “was a good shot,

whoever he was” (O’Flaherty 3). The fact that the sniper shows interest in

the identity of his victim helps to indicate his humanity and the humanity of

the entire war. The contrast between this generic epithet and the

brotherhood discovered throws stark light onto the issues facing Ireland in

1923. Although written remarkably close to the events which it portrays,

“The Sniper” succeeds in addressing issues which most of the population

could relate to in some way.

O’Flaherty recounts the entirety of his story in the concise, detailed manner

which he later became well known for. When the sniper is threatened by an

armored car and a civilian informer, O’Flaherty tells of the murders simply

saying, “The sniper raised his rifle and fired. The head fell heavily on the

turret wall […] the sniper fired again. The woman whirled round and fell with

a shriek into the gutter” (2). The sniper shows no reaction to the murder, as

he was immediately distracted by gunshots fired in his direction. The way

O’Flaherty focuses on those events observed and understood by the sniper,

rather than emotion, allows the reader to better understand the thought

process of a man hardened by war and killing.

The shots the sniper fires into the street give away his position to the enemy

sniper across the road. The enemy fires, and the bullet pierces his right

forearm. The sniper focuses on nothing but his injury and his mission as he

dresses the wound; “There was no pain—just a deadened sensation, as if the

arm had been cut off” (O’Flaherty 1). Once bandaged, he immediately

assesses the situation, and decides to trick his opponent by placing his cap

over the muzzle of his rifle and holding it where the enemy can see. Once

the enemy fires, the sniper convincingly drops his rifle and cap, luring his

opponent to a false sense of security, and stands up. The Republican sniper

fires, and though O’Flaherty says, “his right arm was paining him like a

thousand devils (2), he takes aim and fires with his pistol some fifty yards

across to the opposite building.

The style O’Flaherty uses sheds light on the attitude with which he viewed

the world. An injured veteran of World War I, O’Flaherty was able to describe

war-like situations with vivid detail. He clearly understands the concept of

‘kill or be killed,’ which many people of the time period could relate too,

since every street and town in the country was a potential battlefield.

O’Flaherty also describes hunger, boredom, and injury convincingly, one

might assume from real-life experience. The cool, collected attitude of the

sniper, even after injury, helps the reader to understand the mentality of a

soldier. In war emotion cannot exist; there is only the desire to live.

“The Sniper,” Liam O’Flaherty’s first published work of fiction, presented

issues surrounding the Irish Civil War while the events were still transpiring.

Best known until recently for his novels (several of which are based upon or

during the Irish Civil War), O’Flaherty has gained more acknowledgement for

his short stories in which he “builds in deceptively simple stories vivid

images of the basic instincts of man” (O’Brien 93). His stories are short, easy

to read, and easy to relate to. An audience in 1923 would most likely have

been torn over such a blatant, violent, and personal narrative. Mothers

reading the piece may have wondered if one of their sons had killed another,

and soldiers may have wondered if the last man they killed was their brother,

cousin, or father. With the sudden and abrupt realization that the sniper has

killed his brother, O’Flaherty makes “the revelation that brother has shot

bother the final atrocity in a barbaric world” (O’Brien 96).

It can be argued that the plot of “The Sniper” exploits the circumstances of

the Irish Civil War and the pain associated with it. The concept of one brother

killing another seems harsh and cruel in a time and place when such events

are happening to real people every day. The feeling of exploitation is

increased by the death of the civilian informer and the lack of emotion shown

by the sniper.

Liam O’Flaherty, however, was an Irishman who had served his country

during World War I. It seems unlikely that a veteran who had seen death and

unspeakable violence would use such topics as a means of exploiting a Civil

War within his own country. O’Flaherty specifically leaves both snipers

unidentified- the enemy is not even identified in the story by his beliefs or

the side on which he is fighting, just ‘the enemy.’ “The Sniper” was

O’Flaherty’s attempt to convey a message that Civil War is a horrifying

experience for all involved, both directly and indirectly. Parts of the work

may seem insensitive and unfeeling such as the description of the enemy’s

death; “Then the dying man on the roof crumpled up and fell forward. The

body turned over and over in space and hit the ground with a dull thud. Then

it lay still” (O’Flaherty 2). Despite the harsh reality of the scene, it relates

directly to the political and social climate in Ireland at the time. O’Flaherty

does not exploit the pain of families or individuals in “The Sniper,” but rather

provides some comfort in the fact that murder, in war, is an act of self-

preservation and there is no logical way to explain why some soldiers and

civilians died while others survived.

In modern times, the main themes that can be addressed through “The

Sniper” are the horrors of war, especially civil war, which can tear nations,

neighborhoods, and families apart to an irreparable extent. Literature written

about any atrocity or human cruelty will surely raise concerns and tempers

among readers, but I feel that it is better to discuss terrible events such as

war, terrorism, and genocide, than to sweep them under the rug as if they

never occurred. Philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot

remember history are condemned to repeat it;” this can be exemplified by

the genocide which took place in Russia and then Iraq, despite the world’s

previous dealings with the Holocaust. Through the boldness and audacity of

authors such as Liam O’Flaherty, it can be assured that the atrocities of war,

hatred, and violence will not be forgotten, and thus may hopefully be

avoided by future generations.

Works Cited

ed. Boyce, D.G. The Revolution in Ireland, 1879-1923. London: Macmillan

Education Ltd, 1988.

"Irish Civil War and Before." U.S. Naval Academy Literature Department. 11

November 2007 .

O'Brien, James Howard. Liam O'Flaherty. Cranberry, New Jersey: Associated

University Presses, 1973.

O'Flaherty, Liam. "The Sniper." Kelly, ed. A.A. Collected Stories. Palgrave

Macmillan, 2000. 96-100.

Zneimer, John. The Literary Vision of Liam O'Flaherty. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse

University Press, 1970.

The Theme of the Sniper:Wars reduces human beings to mere objects. They have no names,no faces.They are targets,nothing more,to be shot at from a distance.To support this theme the author refrains to any of his characters.War knows no boundaries,age,gender,location,time of the day,family ties.The story opens the eyes to futility of hatered and voilence which made a brother kill a brother.Voilence is no means to an end.

Theme: There are no enemies we are all brothers 

militaryphotos.net

The theme of "The Sniper" is there are no enemies we are all brothers. This is the theme because the sniper is in a firefight with another sniper and gets shot in the arm. He out smarts the other sniper and shoots to kill. The "enemy" sniper falls to his death after being shot. The main sniper out of pride and arrogance wants to see the face of his kill. He runs across a heavily fired upon street and flips the body right side up. It was his brother he had killed. The theme means that we are all gods children which makes us brothers. Your brother is not your enemy therefore we have no enemies.

Plot[edit]

In The Sniper, by Liam O’Flaherty, Free Staters and Republicans wage a civil

war in Ireland. The Free Staters demand Ireland’s independence from Britain,

and the Republicans denounce the secession. The essence of this great war

is portrayed through the perspective of a young Republican IRA sniper, who is

scarred for life after witnessing an overwhelming number of deaths. Laying on

a roof, the sniper scans the vicinity for any sign of Free Staters. The dark aura

of the night veils his position. After a long and anxious fast, the sniper hastily

devours a sandwich, and takes the risk of smoking a cigarette. When the

cigarette light flickers, a bullet suddenly hits the parapet that he was hiding

behind. Fortifying himself, the sniper then carefully gazes around the parapet,

and another bullet fires. However this time he sees the flash, and comes to

realize that his assailant is under cover. Suddenly, an informant discloses the

sniper’s position to men in an armed vehicle. The sniper however is able to

swiftly end the lives of the man in the turret and the informant. In just

moments, a shot is fired from the other side. The bullet penetrates into his

right arm, causing a numbness that precludes the use of his rifle. After tending

to his wound, the Sniper then devises a ruse in which he merely exposes his

hat on top of his rifle; allows his hat to fall once it has been shot; and drags his

rifle over the edge of the parapet, simulating the collapse of his deceased

body. The ruse is indeed a success, as his assailant, thinking he has killed his

target, leaves his fortification, thus giving the sniper a clear shot. Taking out

his revolver, the sniper then aims and fires at the enemy. A feeling of remorse

overcomes him when he sees the body crumple into lifelessness. Dazed, the

sniper then throws his revolver against the ground and when a bullet

discharges past his head, he is immediately frightened back to reality. Led by

a fusillade of bullets from a nearby machine gun, he comes close to his

assailant. As the sniper takes cover, he sees the soldier's face and realizes

that he has killed his brother

A Character in the Story

http://funoodle.deviantart.com/art/Urban-Sniper-51466779?offs

In the short story "The Sniper" they really don't describe the characters into great detail. The character I chose was the main sniper.  He is an republican sniper who was on a

rooftop.  He was very bold because he had the guts to eat a sandwich, drink whiskey, and have a cigarette.  He wasn't compassionate either.  He shot a little old lady, because she told the enemies about him.  He also is very smart and intelligent.  He came up with a genius plan to kill the other enemy.  By taking his hat and putting it on his gun stock.  The enemy thought it was a person and shot him, but actually he was playing dead.  He later shot his enemy with a pistol from far away.  

Character Sketch of The Sniper   

  

War. Death. Pain. Anger and remorse. None are pleasantries, but all are faced and handled every day. In Liam O'Flaherty's "The Sniper," all of these things are brought to an acute reality. To aid in his creation of such emotional conflict, O'Flaherty portrayed the sniperas a very controversial character. We can see this contrast in personality by looking at appearance, actions, and thoughts.     "...the face of a student, thin and ascetic,...eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic." And so the sniper is described in a physical sense. Upon looking at the meaning of the words, we find an unexpected conflict of definition. O'Flaherty writes that the sniper's face is "that of a student." We think young, and vibrant. However, to describe his meaning, he goes on to say that his face is both "thin and ascetic." Also, gaunt, and displaying self-discipline; both qualities carried more so in adults than students. Also, it is stated that the sniper had "the eyes of a man who is used to looking at death." One might imagine an older man, who has lived through many-a-war and seen lives lost.  These three descriptions show that the sniper was older than his years in appearance, as well as emotionally.      The snipers' actions also are cause to believe that he is more than meets the eye.  In the story, the sniper considers lighting a cigarette. "It was dangerous...he decided to take the risk." One's knowledge that something is dangerous and then their persistence to carry out the action shows a true daredevil. A characteristic of the "student" in him mentioned earlier. Another, much different, action of the sniper's is the need to discover who he killed. After the remorse of the crime committed, the sniper proceeds to investigate his enemy's identity. "...felt a sudden curiosity as to the identity of the enemy sniper..." This shows that the sniper did, in fact, have a streak of humaneness and care in him. A very different mood from the daredevil.     Lastly, the way the sniper thinks reveals much about his character. When he is considering means of escape, he comes up with a plan to trick the enemy sniper into believing he himself was dead. "His ruse had succeeded." Ruse is a word that means "an action in order to mislead." This portrays the mischievous side of the sniper. One more facet to his complex personality.     So, as one can see, LiamO'Flaherty's sniper was a very deep and complicated character. Through his actions, appearance, and thoughts, we see the signs of age and wisdom versus the daredevil, both apart form the mischievous student brought out in his success plan. All in all, the sniper's personality was written to be very conflicting and controversial. 

Topic: The Sniper

In Liam O'Flaherty's "The Sniper," what is the theme of this story: in other words, what is the point the writer is making about war—especially civil war—and what it can do to human beings?

Posted by justinmancuso on October 6, 2011 at 9:39 AM via web and tagged with liam o'flaherty, literature, short

story, the sniper, theme

4 Answers | add yours All Answers Educator Answers Student Answers

booboosmoosh

High School Teacher

(Level 3) Educator Emeritus

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In Liam O'Flaherty's short story, "The Sniper," the theme that most strikes me is that in war, there

are no winners, regardless of who kills more people or takes more land, etc.

When the Republican sniper kills the driver of the tank and the informant, he perceives success,

though the death of these two does not make any difference in the sniper's intent to turn the tide of

the war to the benefit of the Republican army.

Then around the corner of a side street came an old woman, her head covered by a tattered shawl.

She began to talk to the man in the turret of the car. She was pointing to the roof where the sniper lay.

An informer.

The woman is most likely an occupant of the neighborhood who is tired of the fighting and the

inability to move safely through the streets. She has no money—as noted by the "tattered shawl."

The sniper kills the driver of the tank.

The turret opened. A man's head and shoulders appeared, looking towards the sniper. The sniper

raised his rifle and fired. The head fell heavily on the turret wall. The woman darted toward the side

street. The sniper fired again. The woman whirled round and fell with a shriek into the gutter.

The woman's imagined concern over her lack of safety is proven with her death. The armored car

(tank) has quickly fled, and the sniper has been hit by a Free Stater sniper on another roof. Not only

are there no winners in war, but in this civil war, innocent people—women, children, the elderly—are

killed. The woman seems like an enemy to the sniper, but she is simply a woman who wants her life

back from war. The sniper sees things only in terms of warfare; there is nothing unfair in his mind in

killing the old woman—she's an informant.

We also understand that civil war separates families as seen in the War Between the States in the

United States in the 19th Century. The truth of the terrible waste of war and the horrific toll it takes

upon a society, and humanity in general, is seen when the sniper turns over the dead man he has

killed.

...he felt a sudden curiosity as to the identity of the enemy sniper whom he had killed. He decided that

he was a good shot whoever he was. He wondered if he knew him. Perhaps he had been in his won

company before the split in the army.

The sniper anticipates it might be a former friend and yet he still does not recoil from looking at the

dead man. We know how we feel learning that the man has killed his brother, but we are left to

wonder as to his reaction because it seems he has become so desensitized to the death of others in

this war that he might not be changed at all—we can never be sure.

There truly are no winners in war.

Posted by booboosmoosh on October 6, 2011 at 11:57 AM (Answer #1)

steveric

Student

Grade 9

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Second Part of My essay continued: 

From Irish civil wars in the story, the irrational of the war is inferred. Whenever the war happened,

the soldiers were reduces from human beings to mere objects. Each of the individual in war

becomes the target to be shot by the weapons from the range. War becomes the futile attempt for

young people who do not know who they will be killing in the battle. The important moral to be

learned from war is that there is no winner in war. Thousands and millions of people are killed in civil

war and bombs are dropped into enemy’s country, there will still be no winner from both sides. Irish

civil war is a double-edged sword and a controversial dilemma. Not only the war does not bring the

beneficial result for the Irish people, but also separates families and having a huge impact on society

and humanity in general. Moreover, the civil war claims a large number of lives and splits in the

military forces, which the soldier of the forces killed their friends, relative or even their family in the

opposing forces. Basically, this civil war created the huge hatred and history of violence between the

people in the same nation.

            The futile of the war can be seen from the young sniper and the consequences of Irish civil

war itself. Since there is no winner in the war, the countries or forces on both sides will lose

especially the life of their people, and followers. Looking at the story, the young sniper himself finds

the truth terrible waste of war when he turns over the dead man he has killed is his brother. The

story lefts us with untold possible reaction of the young sniper after finding out he has killed his own

brother. This kind of action could lead into his insanity or even into his suicide. The futility of hatred

and violence, which made a brother kill his brother.

Here, we can see that killing his brother is similar to killing the innocent people like the old woman in

the story who in the position where she has lack of security. The woman might seem as an enemy to

the sniper, but she is simply a woman who wants her life back from war. From the sniper’s

perspective, he might see this as nothing unfair in his mind in killing the old woman, because he is

looking her as an informant in the time of the war. Because of the war, this young sniper has been

worried about his own protection and his enemy, therefore, he decided the people he sees into

either allies or enemies and he becomes blind to distinguish who the people might be that he is

killing,

            Now, we see the cruelty, irrational and futility of the war through the young sniper killing his

brother and the conflicts of Irish civil war itself. In conclusion, the violence is useless and often self-

consuming. For instance, the Irish civil war that was suppose to be beneficial for Irish people,

opened up several rifts in the Irish society rendering Ireland weak and devastated. Worst of all, the

people were completely famished and emaciated, later these people finally got killed and died in

futility. 

Posted by steveric on June 13, 2012 at 5:51 AM (Answer #2)

steveric

Student

Grade 9

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This is my first draft, so, this could be imperfect. Inform me if you find mistakes or errors. 

Title :Different Claimes of the theme of war in The Sniper

 

Essay: 

In the constant part of the world, we see the war had been happening. It is the nature of every living

creature. Wars are created due to the people’s angers and disappointment, but they never have the

great purpose to justify it. In the story, The Sniper, the Republican sniper who has been desensitized

from seeing many dead people before his eyes. During the civil war, he sees how the click of his

sniper can easily take the life of the man and the old woman in the matter of a second. He shot the

sniper with his revolver, but due to his curiosity he discovers the victim is his brother. We can see

the theme of war is introduced to the story by each bad, disturbing of the human life after the war.

We can see the author indicated the idea of cruelty, irrational, and futility of the war from the story,

The Sniper. 

The cruelty of the war is hinted throughout the story by the action of the young sniper. The reason he

joined the war might be, because of his youth and “the cold gleam of the fanatic on his eyes.” Since

he is in his youth, he might have the alacrity and enthusiasm of the child who is filled with obsessive

interest in the lust of war. Though he had been used to look at death, he later becomes bitter and

disgusted looking at the people he has killed especially his brother forced by the cruelty of the war.

In war, there are no boundaries for ages, gender, location, time of the day, and family ties. This

young sniper would be a typical example for its cruelty. As he killing the man from the tank and the

old woman, he only see things only in term of warfare, but unaware of his futile attempt to turn the

tide of the war to the benefit of the Republican and of his killing innocent people. A numerous of

women, children and the elderly are killed in this civil war. Not knowing that these innocent people

could be one of the sniper’s families, which the sniper discovers his enemy is his brother. Seeing the

lack of security of the old woman and his enemy falling, “the sniper becomes bitten by remorse. The

sweat stood out on his forehead. He revolted from the sight of the shattered mass of his dead

enemy. His teeth chattered, he began to gibber himself, cursing the war, cursing himself, cursing

everybody.” We can see that now he has found the cruelty of the war, while he had a great interest

in war before. Now, he feels disgusted when he looks the mass of his dead enemy and begins to

abhor the war and himself.