The Sniper 解读

Type of Work and Year of Publication

.......“The Sniper,” Liam O'Flaherty's first published work, is a short story. It was printed in London in

the January 12, 1923, issue of a weekly socialist publication, The New Leader.

Setting

......."The Sniper" takes place in Ireland's largest city, Dublin, on the country's east coast on Dublin

Bay, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The time is nightfall in June after the establishment of the Irish Free

State in 1922. The sniper posts himself on a rooftop in central Dublin near the Four Courts building,

which houses the high courts of Ireland, and O'Connell Bridge, which spans the River Liffey. The

Liffey divides the city into two sections as it runs eastward to Dublin Bay.

Characters

IRA Sniper: Man posted on a roof in Dublin.

Opposing Sniper: Enemy gunman posted on a roof across from the IRA sniper.

Turret Gunner: Man shot by the IRA sniper.

Old Woman: Informer who betrays the position of the IRA sniper to the turret gunner.

Unseen Machine Gunner: Person who fires at the IRA sniper after the latter leaves the roof.

Point of View

.......O'Flaherty wrote "The Sniper" in limited third-person point of view, in which he presents the

thoughts of the IRA sniper but does not present the thoughts of any other character. He wrote "The

Sniper" while Ireland was embroiled in sectarian conflict.

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Historical Background

.......In 1919, the newly formed Irish Republican Army launched guerilla warfare during the Irish War of Independence to

liberate Ireland from the British. Unable to contain the rebels, London agreed in the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty to create an

Irish Free State. However, the agreement would recognize the Free State only as a dominion in the British Commonwealth

maintain ports in the south, and require the Free State to pay part of the debt Britain incurred in waging the war.

Consequently, not all Irishmen accepted the agreement, the provisions of which became effective in 1922. (The six

northern counties seceded, as expected.) Once-united Irish fighters were now split into two factions—disgruntled IRA

short story on a scene of fighting in Dublin in which an IRA sniper shoots at Free Staters from a rooftop.

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of Nations. Moreover, it would permit six counties in northern Ireland to withdraw from the Free State, allow the British to

members and supporters of the Free State—and fought a civil war. O’Flaherty, himself a member of the IRA, centers his

Plot Summary

By Michael J. © 2007

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.......At nightfall in Dublin, heavy guns and small arms boom and crack intermittently near the River

Liffey as Republicans battle Free Staters. From a rooftop near O’Connell Bridge, a Republican

sniper with fanatical eyes observes the scene while eating a sandwich and swigging whiskey.

.......When an armored car pulls up fifty yards ahead, he does not shoot at it, realizing that bullets

will not pierce heavy armor. An old woman stops to inform the car’s turret gunner of the position of

the sniper. When the gunner emerges from his dome, the sniper kills him, then the woman. The

armored car speeds away.

.......Gunfire from the opposite roof then wounds the sniper in the arm. He drops his rifle as blood

oozes from his wound, although he feels no pain. His arm is numb. He opens

a first-aid kit and drips iodine onto the wound. Now there is pain. Then he places cotton on the

wound, bandages it, and thinks about his predicament. He can no longer handle his rifle. He has

only his revolver to defend himself. If he tries to get off the roof, he will be an easy target for the

gunman across from him. A plan occurs to him, and he executes it immediately. Placing his hat on

the muzzle of his rifle, he pokes the barrel over the roof parapet. A bullet zings throughthe hat. The

sniper tilts the weapon so that the hat falls onto the street. Then he hangs his left hand limply over

the roof. A moment later, he drops the rifle to the street and slumps to the roof, dragging his hand

back over the parapet.

.......After crawling to a new position, he peeks out and sees his enemy standing up and looking

across, apparently believing he killed the IRA man. The latter brings his revolver into position, holds

his breath, and fires. The enemy reels on the roof, drops his rifle to the street, and falls to the

pavement.

.......The sight drains the sniper of his “lust for battle,” the narrator says. “Weakened by his wound

and the long summer day of fasting and watching on the roof, he revolted from the sight of the

shattered mass of his dead enemy. His teeth chattered, he began to gibber to himself, cursing the

war, cursing himself, cursing everybody.”

.......In disgust, he throws the smoking revolver to the roof. It discharges, sending a bullet past his

head. The shock of the near miss sobers him, steadies his nerves. Then he laughs, swigs whiskey,

and gets off the roof via a skylight and a house beneath. On the quiet street, he is curious about the

other sniper, who was a very good shot. Who was he? Could he have been a member of his own

company before the army split into rival factions. He decides to have a look at the man. When he

dashes across, a machine gun opens fire but misses him. He drops to the pavement next to the

body as the gunfire ceases. When he turns over the body, he sees the face of his brother.

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Author's Background

.......Novelist and short-story writer Liam O'Flaherty was born on August 28, 1898, in a

poverty-stricken village on Inishmore Island in County Galway on the western coast of Ireland. He

was the ninth of ten children of Michael and Margaret O'Flaherty. A good student, he studied for a

time for the Roman Catholic priesthood. However, he later renounced his religion.

.......In 1915, he enlisted in the British Army during the First World War and suffered a serious injury

two years later in a bomb explosion at Langemarck, Belgium. After he recovered, the army

discharged him because he had developed severe depression. He traveled

widely, visiting South America, North America, and the Middle East and working at various odd

jobs.

.......When he returned to Ireland, he embraced communism, became an atheist, and joined the

Irish Republican Army in its campaign to liberate Ireland from British rule. In 1921, Britain and

Ireland forged a treaty creating an Irish Free State. But because the document made the new Irish

state part of the British Commonwealth of Nations rather than a fully independent entity, O'Flaherty

and his IRA compatriots broke with fellow Irishmen who supported the treaty. Several of

O'Flaherty's novels center on the effects of war, revolution, and social upheaval in Ireland in the

early twentieth century and in the nineteenth century. O'Flaherty died on Sept. 7, 1984, in Dublin.

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Themes

War reduces human beings to mere objects. They have no names, no faces. They are targets,

nothing more, to be shot at from a distance. To support this theme, O’Flaherty refrains from naming

any of his characters.

War knows no boundaries—age, sex, location, time of day, family ties. The IRA sniper is a young

man, and the informer is an old woman. The fighting takes place in the heart of a city after sundown.

The IRA sniper unwittingly shoots and kills his own brother.

Climax

.......The climax occurs when the IRA sniper discovers the identity of the enemy sniper.

Style

Rat-a-Tat Prose

.......O’Flaherty’s prose is straightforward and easy to understand. In "The Sniper," he frequently

uses short sentences to maintain suspense, as if the sentences are quickening heartbeats. Here is

an example:

The turret opened. A man's head and shoulders appeared, looking toward the sniper. The

sniper raised his rifle and fired. The head fell heavily on the turret wall. The woman darted