The Sniper

”The Sniper” is a short story written by Liam O’Flaherty in 1923. The story is about The Irish Civil War taking place in Dublin in 1922. The war was between the Free Staters and the Republicans, who strongly disagreed about the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.
Long story short the Free Staters were Irishmen who supported the treaty contrary to the Republicans who fanatically opposed.

The Sniper is the main character and is on the Republicans’ side.
The author is very detailed in his description of the sniper: ” a man who is used to looking at death”. Especially this phrase is very effective because it instantly gives the impression that he may have very cold looking eyes, thus he seems cold, careless and cynical. Also the quotations: “He had been too excited to eat.” and ”…but his eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic” support this.
The word excited’ suggests that he enjoys having the chance to fight. He seems very determined and devoted, which shows how personal this battle is. I think he sees himself as a true freedom-fighter and maybe even a hero. He is the one who doesn’t compromise.
However deeper into the story, it is clear that that is not entirely the case: “The sniper looked at his enemy falling and he shuddered.” This shows that he is able to kill, although he does not enjoy doing it.
The phrase: He began to gibber to himself, cursing himself, cursing everybody,”
Here one gets the feeling that he starts to realize the bitter irony of Irish people fighting each other instead of continuing fighting the real enemy- England to the bitter end.

The Imagery in the story is very describing: ”The long June twilight faded into night”, “The body hit the ground with a dull thud”, “blood was oozing through the sleeve of his coat”. Not only does the effective language make you as the reader feel present, it also builds a sense of horror and tension.

In my opinion the plot of the story is very efficient. Both because it highlights the anger and frustration of not only the Irishmen towards England, but also the Irishmen towards other Irishmen. Besides that it is also very interesting, how the story portrays the mind of a soldier as an individual and which feelings and dilemmas they as soldiers are exposed to.

I like the ending of the short story very much: “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face”.
It leaves us with a sense of shock and devastation, that it had come to this – brother against brother.
The ending could be interpreted in two ways.
It could either be his real, biological brother or simply a fellow Irish men.

Because even within Irish families, family members could have totally different attitudes towards the conflict/ the acceptance of the Free State.

I consider the author’s message and the theme of the short story to be the same thing – To show the absurdity and tragedy that took place - that friends, family members, colleagues etc. turned into bloody enemies.