In Liam O'Flaherty's

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Name        : Raghav Goyal

Grade        : X B IGCSE

Date        : 7th July 2005

English Assignment

The Sniper

How does the author depict the turmoil and plight in a war-torn city in “The Sniper”?

Anger, pain, death and remorse- all unpleasant, but all are faced and handled in every war. In Liam O'Flaherty's "The Sniper," all of these are brought to an acute reality in a single war-torn city. Strong cerebral convictions and opposing philosophies, due to which people want to destroy the seemingly “wrong” plague this world and are the main reason for plight. To aid in his creation of such emotional conflict, turmoil and plight, the author has portrayed the sniper as a very controversial character. This story is oriented around one character in the Civil War which he should not even be in as he is mentioned to be a “student” in the story.

The story whose main theme is violence, attempts to chronicle the short span of fanaticism that inspires youth that leads to turmoil in the first place. In this chaotic situation however, fanaticism is what one may need in order to survive and this is exactly what the sniper is facing. This is shown when the sniper is said to be the “student with the face of an ascetic”. He has one task to perform- to kill the soldiers of the Free States. However, the most important line that catches the attention of the reader is “…the eyes of a man who is used to looking at death.” This is very ironic as he was earlier compared to a student who is like a symbol for innocence where now he is spoken of as a murderer. He is engrossed in fulfilling his duty and is now a student of violence. He is nothing more than a “Republican sniper” as we can see that nowhere in the story is his name mentioned. He is an individual who fades in the light of the general.

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The setting of the story is in a war-torn part of Dublin where the sniper is perched on a rooftop. He aims at and kills two people stealthily of which one is shot merely because she might have been an “informer”. Doing this, the sniper is himself wounded and has to attempt an escape from his position. To do this, he must kill a rebel sniper on the opposite roof. He does this with great ingenuity- first faking his own death and then shooting the sniper in cold blood. This death however, is highlighted by a depiction in slow motion ...

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