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 as the rebel falls into an empty bullet-torn street. Witnessing this gruesome death, a contrasting remorseful feeling fills the sniper’s mind as the “lust” for battle dies in him. As he prepares to leave, emotions make him curious to know the identity of his victim. After risking his life in this act, he sees that he has shot his own brother. Beginning as “twilight faded into night,” the action of the story instantly becomes more dangerous. The course and characters of this story are not unique to this one situation but are an index to all violence everywhere.
When the Republican sniper finds out that his victim was his own brother, he learns how cruel war is. Just a difference in opinion can tear one family apart. A semi-abrupt ending to the story (the author does not explain the emotion felt by the sniper upon finding the identity of his victim) but the reader knows that that he is feeling remorse and being a personal loss due to his own doing, the sniper undergoes a guilt propelled realization of the horrors of what he has done so far. The disillusionment of war sets in and he experiences his convictions crumble.
The author gives a brief setting to the situation of turmoil in his introductory paragraph itself, where he uses words such as “darkness”, “dim”, “pale” and “dark” to shows the ominous and emotion-free atmosphere. “The Sniper” also takes place between the hours of dusk and dawn depicting a period of gloom.
O’Flaherty throughout the story has compared machinery to animals depicting inhumanity using phrases such as “heavy guns roared”, “dogs barking” and “the grey monster” while at the same time has reported all the other situations in a mechanical style. The use of the word “dead” is often and that causes an impact on the reader as to how serious the event is even if it is a small one. The use of short sentences but loaded with description are used very effectively by the author in the attempt to depict a menacing situation.
The author seems to have a very vivid and vast knowledge of war and has used apt vocabulary and has described each event, each object in a very detailed manner thus showing the importance of what seem to be insignificant things in a situation of Civil War. However, the details do not describe the emotions of the sniper. A plighted sense is touched upon but never given an in-depth description. It is mentioned in cases that pain is experienced by him but has never been explained exactly what he is feeling. The only direct speech in the entire story is “Christ, I’m hit.” The turmoil ‘overpowers’ the life of a soldier.
The gory sights in the city of Dublin, torn apart and paralysed with war and fear is depicted by people bleeding in the gutters till they die and rapid gunfire everywhere followed by a deafening silence. Killing is done in cold blood and even then, the sniper maintains calm until he kills his opponent sniper on the opposite rooftop. This calmness in goriness clearly justifies the turmoil and the plight that the author shows in this short story. The author uses the course and characters of the story to chart the course of the characters in every scene of violence everywhere.
The emphasis given to the bloodshed, the war, the loss of life is more than what is given to the feelings, the people and the life and in this way Liam O’Flaherty has depicted turmoil and plight in the war-torn city in this short story titled “The Sniper”.
(Word Count- 999 words)