Information on the author.
The author of this book is called Liam O’Flaherty. Liam was born on the 28th of August in the year 1896. He was born in Inishmore, this is an island which is apart of Ireland. He died on the 7th of September in the year 1984. He died in Dublin, which is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Liam had 2 different occupations, he was a writer, but he also was a soldier. Other works written by Liam include: The informer which is a novel, and a short story called two lovely beast and other stories.
Link: Liam O'Flaherty - Wikipedia
The short story.
The title of the story is The Sniper. The title refers to the main story, which is about a sniper. “On a rooftop near O’Connell Bridge, a Republican sniper lay watching.” I think the title fits the story, because the story is about a sniper. The sniper is mentioned multiple times in the story. In the story there are guns mentioned and shootings, this is another reason why the title fits the story. If I could give the story another name I would call it "guns and rifles”, this is because in the story these objects are mentioned multiple times, and they play a main role in the story. “Beside him lay his rifle and over his shoulders was slung a pair of field glasses.” “He must kill that enemy and he could not use his rifle. He had only a revolver to do it.”
Year and period.
The story was published on the 12th of January 1923, this was during the Irish civil war, which also is the war that the story takes place in. I think that the story is significant for the time when it was written. Because the story is about the Irish civil war, and it was also published during the Irish civil war. “Republicans and Free Staters were waging a civil war.”
Genre and summary.
The genre of the story is realistic fiction. Realistic fiction means that something really could have happened, only it didn't actually happen. This story is a good example, it's about the Irish civil war, which actually happened. “Here and there through the city, machine guns and rifles broke the night, like dogs barking on lone farms.”
A sniper is laying on a rooftop. The sniper considers taking a smoke, even though it's dangerous, he still lights it. He was seen, and he was being shot at. A car came up and a woman pointed towards the sniper, she was an informer, so the sniper fired and killed them. The sniper got shot, and with his revolver he shot the other sniper. He wanted to identify the other sniper, so he went over there, and the dead sniper turned out to be his brother.
Theme of the story.
I think the writer wanted to show how horrible the war is, but also how it affected people. The story is about a sniper, who is still young. “His face was the face of a student, thin and ascetic, but his eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic.” I think the main theme of the story is the war, and other themes are death, loss and family. I think death and loss are themes because at the end of the story it's about the death and the loss of his brother. He did what he thought was good, by shooting the other sniper. But then it turned out to be his brother, so he lost his brother because he died. I think family is another theme because the other sniper turned out to be his brother. I also think that the story shows that the two brothers may have had different ideas about the war, but that didn't mean that they hated each other. But I think that the main theme is war, because the story takes place during the Irish civil war, and it's about an event that could have happened during the war. It's also about how the war effects people I think, so that's another reason why I think that war is the main theme of the story. “Republicans and Free Staters were waging civil war."
Place.
The story takes place during the Irish civil war in Dublin, and it takes place at night. “Dublin lay enveloped in darkness but for the dim light of the moon that shone through fleecy clouds, casting a pale light as of approaching dawn over the streets and the dark waters of the Liffey.” The narrator is a third person narrator. “The sniper took another whiff and put out the cigarette. Then he swore softly and crawled away to the left.”
Characters.
The main character of this story is the Republican sniper. I think the sniper is brave because at the start of the story the sniper decides to take a smoke. He knew how dangerous it could be, but he still did it. I think that this was very brave. I also think he is clumsy because it was kind of stupid to light a smoke, it was dangerous, and he knew there would be consequences. Because he lit the fire he got shot, and this made him drop his rifle. I think that this is kind of clumsy. I also think he is thoughtful because at the end of the story, after he shot the other sniper. He decided that he wanted to know who he had killed, he wanted to see if he knew him. So, despite the risk, he still went over to the other sniper to look. I think that this is thoughtful. Another character of this story is the old woman who turned out to be an informer. I think she is scary, fierce and defeated. The main hero of this story is the sniper, he is not necessarily a hero, but he is the main character. I think in his eyes he is a hero, because he thinks that what he is doing is good, so he thinks he is a hero. An anti-hero in this story is the informer. I think that she is an anti-hero rather than a villain, because in her eyes what she was doing was good. She just saw it from a different perspective.
Literary devices.
Literary devices that are used in this story include similes, plot twists and amplification. A simile is the comparison of one thing to another different thing. An example is: “there was no pain—just a deadened sensation, as if the arm had been cut off.” the deadened sensation is being compared to the feeling of a cut off arm. A plot twist means that usually at the end of the story something happens that no one saw coming an example of a plot twist is: “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother's face.” I think this was a plot twist, because I personally did not see this coming. Amplification means that you write down more details to increase the significance, an example is: “The long June twilight faded into night. Dublin lay enveloped in darkness but for the dim light of the moon that shone through the fleecy clouds, casting a pale light as of approaching dawn over the streets and the dark waters of the Liffey.” The plot twist is there to give the reader a shock, and it's used by stating something that's horrible for the main character, and it's something I personally did not expect. The amplification is used at the start to describe the coldness of the area where we are, and the war. It's used by using more words and more details, this way you know more about the place you are.
My opinion.
I personally liked the story, it's well written and it has a good story line. It is a story about war, which is an interesting subject. I liked the story because there were no boring moments, and because of this it was easy to read from the beginning until the end. I liked it because everything was very well described, this made it easy for me to imagine what the story would look like. An example of this is found in the beginning of the story, where the author describes where the story is taking place, and who the main character is: “His face was the face of a student, thin and ascetic, but his eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic.” I also liked the plot twist at the end. I didn't expect that, so it was shocking to read. This happened at the end of the story where the sniper found out that the man he killed was his brother.
I wouldn't change anything about this story. This is because I already really like the story, it is filled with action, and it wasn't boring or hard to read. I liked the plot twist at the ending, and just the whole story overall.
REACTIES
1 seconde geleden