the sniper by liam o’flaherty

The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty

Brenna Brady, Cory Monteleone-Haught, Elizabeth Culver, and Mikaela Palmucci

Plot SummaryThe story begins with an Irish sniper sitting on a rooftop at night, listening to the sound of the battle going on in the distance

He lights a cigarette, resulting in an enemy sniper seeing him

An enemy armored car drives down the street, where it meets an informer, who tells the men where the sniper is

The sniper acts fast, shooting both the informer and the man at the turret, killing them

Plot Summary (cont.)

After shooting the two enemies, the sniper is then shot by the enemy sniper in the arm

Knowing he must get off the roof before morning, the sniper begins devising a plan

He placed his hat on the top of his gun, which he then placed in view of the enemy sniper

The enemy sniper shoots his hat, and believes he has killed the sniper

Plot Summary (cont.)

The sniper quickly crawls to the edge of the roof and looks over the parapet, and sees the enemy sniper standing up across the street

The sniper uses his pistol to shoot the enemy sniper, making him fall over the edge of the roof

Curious, when the sniper escapes to the street he cannot resist turning over the enemy’s body to see who it is

The story ends with the sniper discovering he shot and killed his brother

Main CharactersThe sniper:

A young man fighting for the Irish Republicans

He is calm and level-headed

Believes in what he is fighting for

The enemy sniper:

The sniper’s brother

Fighting for the Irish Free Staters

A “good shot”

The ConflictTwo types:

Man vs. Man

Man vs. Self

There is Man vs. Man conflict because of the battle going on between the sniper and the enemy soldiers and the informer

There is Man vs. Self conflict because the sniper must deal with which side he is on and where his loyalty lies. He must also deal with the grief and possible guilt of killing his brother (though we don’t see this, since the story ends)

ThemeThe theme of the story is the tragedy that wars can cause.

“Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face.” Pg. 166

“The sniper looked at his enemy falling and he shuddered. The lust of battle died within him. He became bitten by remorse.” Pg. 166

“…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.” Pg. 166

SettingThe setting of The Sniper is Dublin, Ireland during a civil war in the 1920’s

More specifically, the main character of the story is laying on a rooftop near O’Connel Bridge

Point of ViewThe Sniper is told in third person limited

“Morning must not find him wounded on the roof. The enemy on the opposite roof covered his escape. He must kill that enemy and he could not use a rifle. He had only a revolver to do it. Then he thought of a plan.”

MoodDesperation

“Morning must not find him wounded on the roof. The enemy on the opposite roof covered his escape. He must not kill that enemy and he could not use his rifle.”

Happiness

“Then, when the smoke cleared, he peered across and uttered a cry of joy. His enemy had been hit.”

Remorse

“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.”

Shock

“Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face.”

Figurative Language &

Plot Devices

Simile, Metaphors

“Here and there through the city machine guns and rifles broke the silence of the night, spasmodically, like dogs barking on lone farms.” Pg. 163

Irony

“Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face.” Pg. 166

Foreshadowing

“The flash might be seen in the darkness and there were enemies watching.” Pg. 164

“He wondered if he knew him. Perhaps he had been his own company before the split in the army.” Pg. 166

SymbolismThe crosshairs represent the main character of the story, who is a Republican sniper in the Irish Civil War.

Symbolism (cont.)This map of Ireland during the Civil War symbolizes the division of the two brothers in the story and how they are divided, similar to the country that they live in.

Symbolism (cont.)This picture represents how the author of the story deliberately left the characters unnamed, making them “faceless”. This symbolizes how thoughtless and cold the killing s in the war were.

Opinion and Reflection