Frank Sargeson made Fred interesting by writing the short story in omniscient. Even though the text was in third person, we could identify Fred by the conversations he and Ken had. Through the conversations the two friends have, the reader finds Fred’s actions quite reasonable. Fred wanted to murder Ken because of the things Ken had that he didn’t. Consequently, even though Fred has killed his friend, it wasn’t a messy murder. It was a clean murder where Fred didn’t physically hurt Ken. The writer has made Fred planning his murder so it could seem like the storm and the tide had washed the boat away and that Fred was the only one who survived. In the end after Fred has swum away from the boat and from Ken, he reveals himself to be a petty, cold person who lacks any positive feeling for a man who is supposed to be his friend.
Also in O’Flaherty’s short story there is murder involved. The Sniper is a republican sniper who is described as “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.” In this story, external conflict confronts the Sniper because of the things in the world around him. In a war he has no choice but to kill the informers as his duty. In his role as a soldier, he functions efficiently and automatically. For instance, when he gets shot, he applies his own field dressing despite the excruciating pain. Only occasionally does he allow himself to make poor decisions, notably when he decides to risk lighting a cigarette, which alerts the enemy soldiers to his location on the roof. Once the Sniper has killed the people around him, he looks over the rooftop at the three people he has just killed — the Soldier in the Turret, the Old Woman, and the Enemy Sniper — the Sniper feels remorse.
Liam O’Flaherty has also made the Sniper interesting by using the point of omniscient. Throughout the story, the Sniper remains a somewhat mysterious, one-dimensional character. The narrative reveals little of his feelings about what is happening around him, nor does it even share his reaction to the knowledge that he has become his brother's murderer. Instead, the story directs the Sniper's actions and thoughts to the battle. The Sniper's only identity is that of a soldier. When the Sniper kills the Enemy Sniper, the reader begins to realise that the Sniper isn’t overwhelmed by the work he has done. The battle-hardened Sniper undergoes a transformation. The excitement of the battle fades. His disgust for the civil war manifests itself physically, as his teeth begin to chatter, and he starts cursing both himself and the war. When the Sniper recovers his senses, his fear dissipates so much that he even risks being shot at to learn the identity of the Free State soldier he has just shot. Only then does he realise that he has killed his own brother.
Both of these stories look at two different characters murdering someone. While in Sargeson’s story Fred kills his friend because Ken has everything that Fred doesn’t when in O’Flaherty’s story, the Sniper kills the people because it is his duty as a solider to do what he is asked to do. Also both texts are written in the point of omniscient. In O’Flaherty’s story he has made it difficult for the readers to identify the Sniper because he doesn’t want the readers being close to the Sniper’s thoughts and feelings whereas in Sargeson’s story we identify Fred through the conversations and the actions he take.
