Use of Literary Devices in The Sniper Essay

Liam OFlahertys The Sniper, conveys the distressed images of a sniper during the civil war, on a dark June night, in Dublin, Ireland. The authors effective use of setting, imagery and characterization suggests that war creates chaos and turns brothers into enemies. Nothing good comes out of a war, and morally nobody wins. The main character, a sniper, lies beneath the support that war not only demoralizes human beings to simple objects, but has no boundaries, and turns one brother against another. OFlaherty best illustrates the pandemonium of a war through the climatic ending of the story. When the sniper discovers he has killed his brother.

The objectification of combatants and civilians is clearly showed in OFlahertys story about the Irish Civil War. OFlaherty reduces his characters to mere objects by not giving them names, but by being noticed as targets. The story visibly demonstrates how everyone on the battlefield is a target for one another, including the sniper. A good example is when the sniper puts out his cigarette after he is noticed and quickly shot at by the enemy. In addition, effective language from the passage visibly exposes the state of mind of a sniper during the war. By doing this, it portrays the killing someone poses an effect that may have on a person. instance, the snipers face was the face of a student, thin and ascetic, but his eyes had the cold gleam of a fanatic. Furthermore, the author The sounds of gunshots are the primary form of dialogue. focuses on narrated in third person, narrative from the main character, the sniper

. Theres no recognition or regard for human life in war. This portrays how war reduces human beings to mere objects and dehumanizes us to the extent that we kill our own. There are no boundaries to war.

Boundaries in war do not exist. Age, sex, location, time of day, etc. are factors and reasons for why there are no boundaries in war. A perfect example would be when the sniper shot and killed the woman who was an informer for the Free Staters. A non-existent boundary seemed to underlie the fact that an enemy is an enemy no matter what sex they might be. OFlaherty displays this type of act to show that there are no boundaries in a war. The setting of the war took place in the heart of Dublin, just as dawn came along. The night was gloomy and dark. A familiar setting would pose a challenge for both sides as far as visibility is concerned; but an advantage for the sniper. To go more in depth, boundaries are more than the age of a person, or their gender. Sometimes, the boundaries numb participants to commit atrocities. Similar to the sniper getting shot in the arm right after killing the informer; he then follows and commits to realizing there should have been boundaries in the battle of war.

During war, action is taken and not given back. Anything and everything will be left on the line to be fought over. In most cases, whoever is standing last will tend to be victorious; temporally to say the least. However, for the sniper, being dead will be just as much as a victory than for being alive. The very end of OFlahertys story displays a nail biting scene between the sniper and the un-named enemy trying to take the life of one another. By using strategy, the sniper figures out a way to fool the enemy and kills him. Saving his life by taking out another, felt so bad. With guilt, and loss of lust for the war, the sniper became curious of the identity he had killed. The climax of the whole story happens at the very end when the sniper finds out he killed his own brother. Though, the storys ending is ironic due to the sniper recognizing that the enemy killed was his brother. The greater irony is that all the snipers enemies of the Free State happen to be his brothers, for they were all once together as one army. In a deeper perspective, all men are brothers being that they are descendants of Adam and Eve. OFlaherty uses symbolism in regards to the sniper and his brother to any war where one person killed another. It illustrates how despicable the human race can be when one member of it takes the life of another.

The period of conflict is war. Millions of people have died from war and it seems that as a human race, we havent quite learned when to stop it. Liam OFlahertys, The Sniper, confirms how war objectifies men, creates no boundaries, and turns a brother against a brother, are just to name a few reasons why war is erroneous and how the human race can be so heartless. All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers.-