The_Sniper

Zlatin 1 Zach Zlatin Mrs. Meeker Honors English 9/10 November 2, 2011 The Description of War Given by the Short Story by Liam O'Flaherty The theme of Liam O'Flaherty's short story “ The Sniper” is the violence that occurs in war. In the beginning of the story, the author describes the setting. O'Flaherty describes that “Here and there through the city, machine guns and rifles broke the silence of the night, spasmodically...” ( “The Sniper” 1). This shows that the fighting never stopped and every effort should be used to kill the enemy. Also the sound of shooting all throughout the night seems like a very dangerous place, not somewhere that children would be running around freely. Like Harlem or downtown Detroit, were the sound of shootings are normal and many people other than drug dealers and gangs do not hang around there. In the rising action of Liam's short story the Republican sniper shot the old woman because she is an informer and the man in the turret. This sniper also took down his own brother when in combat. This demonstrates how violent this war was. It tore families apart and many loved ones were loss. In war anybody who is considered the enemy will be killed; young, old, and even family members. In the climax of this short story the Republican sniper is shot by the Free-State sniper, the Republican snipers does not cry out like any other soldier would if he/she was shot, the Republican sniper keeps on going and does not accept defeat. The republican sniper dressed his own wound and continues to shoot and kills the enemy sniper, which just happened to be his brother. This displays the experience that the Republican sniper had in warfare, meaning that he had been in war many times before “They were deep and thoughtful, the eyes of a man who is used to looking at death.” ( “The Sniper” 1).