“Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.” President John Fitzgerald Kennedy said to the United Nations General Assembly, on September 25th, 1961. This quote is saying that the killing of soldiers in war will soon destroy all. This relates to both stories because both soldiers regretted killing someone. In O’Flaherty’s “The Sniper” and Hardy’s “The Man He Killed” both works use plot, irony, and theme to portray the idea that war causes you to kill those you care or may have cared about.
There are many similarities and differences In the plot of both “The Sniper” and “The Man He Killed”, there are many similarities and differences. A similarity in “The Sniper” is when the sniper realized he had took a risky shot
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One similarity in O’Flaherty’s piece is the sniper’s thoughts about how war is painful and can rip people apart. “His teeth chattered, he began to gibber to himself, cursing the war, cursing himself, cursing everybody...and looked into his brother’s face” (O’Flaherty, 208). This quote talks about how the sniper felt after seeing his enemy fall off the roof from being shot and then once he identifies the body as his brother,he realizes how war can truly tear families apart. Another similarity based on theme in the poem “The Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy. The soldier realizes near the end of the poem that war is full of suffering and can tear friends apart. “You’d treat if met where any bar is, Or help to half-a-crown” (Hardy 5). This quote is saying that if you were to meet an enemy anywhere else besides on the battlefield you would have a pretty high chance of becoming friends. Even though there are similarities, there are also many differences in both stories. For example, in “The Sniper” the war turned brother against brother. “His hand trembles with eagerness. Pressing his lips together, he took a deep breath through his nostrils and fired” (208). This quote is showing the nerves and anxiety the sniper had received from out tricking his own brother. The last example in “The Man He Killed” the war had …show more content…
Bertrand Russell, a British author, mathematician, and philosopher said this quote. This quote is saying war doesn’t solve anything except for proving who can survive. “War does not determine who is right - only who is
Even though nothing should come between people, war breaks ties and relationships with people that normally don’t ever break. War splits families, friends, and even countries. The topic of family is different in both short stories, but yet it plays an important role in each story. In “The Sniper”, the man who is the sniper actually shoots his brother during the Irish civil war. The story reads, “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face”(The Sniper 1).
The sniper, driven by curiosity, risks his life to identify his fallen enemy. When he reaches it, he “[turns] over the dead body and [looks] into his brother’s face.” (O’Flaherty 4) Because the enemy is often looked upon with animosity, one would not expect the identity of the marksman’s foe to be his brother. Soldiers are trained to eliminate the enemy without expressing remorse, however, in this case, his self-preservation had cost him the life of a family member. Although he was victorious in his initial goal, in the end, he suffers a great personal loss.
Someone once said, “War is a curse on humanity that never ends.” Liam O’Flaherty’s “The Sniper, Homer’s “The Odyssey”, and Tim O'Brien's “Ambush” show that war is a curse in different ways. Firstly, Liam O’Flaherty’s “The Sniper” shows the first part of the the curse of war: war tears families apart. In “The Sniper”, a young sharpshooter faces off against his target, another marksman. The sniper gets shot in the arm, but manages to kill his target using his revolver.
Joseph Lee builds the theme by comparing the narrator’s thoughts before and after truly seeing the German prisoners. At first, his “mad impulse was all to smite and slay, / [and] To spit upon [them]” (Lee 3-4), but after seeing how their faces displayed “doubt, despair, and disillusionment” (9), the narrator instantly feels a connection with the enemy. The alliteration of “smite”, “slay”, and “spit” emphasizes the narrator’s anger and vengefulness, while the alliteration of “doubt”, “despair”, and “disillusionment” highlights the mental and emotional impact the war had on the soldiers. These struggles are shared by all soldiers, and they can understand each other despite fighting on opposite sides of the war. The narrator is able to empathize with his enemy, causing a brief friendship to form.
One thing pervasive in O’Flaherty’s writing is that “[t]he adventure… depends on anonymity” (Shuman). Ultimately, the sniper finally comes to his senses, if he has any left, and “began to gibber to himself, cursing the war, cursing himself, cursing everybody” (O'Flaherty). In the end, the true antagonist in this story is war and the atrocities it brings. Furthermore, the story “depicts several of the worst horrors of war. It shows that war makes life seem cheap” (Shuman).
“Cranes” and “The Sniper” have similarity because there is its two main character all having to choose between wars. The similarities of this to themes are that they both involve the war. They both lost something, in The Sniper he lost his brother and, in Cranes the Songsam's lost his relationship. They both lost this because of the war. Some differences they have is that they lost different things.
Now for the difference for “The Sniper” is that humanity over war wasn’t there. He had to kill the Turret Gunner, Informer and other Sniper (O’Flaherty). It was life or death for him. The Sniper did feel a feeling of humanity over war after killing his own brother. He would’ve believed that if he was more humane maybe his brother would still be alive.
“War is like love, it always finds a way” (Bertolt Brecht). Although one is pure and the other evil, the forces of both love and war influence the best stories. A more interesting topic emerges when a character must choose between loyalty to a loved one and devotion to government. In “The Sniper” and “Cranes” the main character is involved in a civil war that calls for allegiance to the government despite his feelings for a loved one who fights for the opposite cause. “The Sniper” and “Cranes” are two similar pieces of literature, however both stories are different and unique from one another.
The author uses irony in this plot twist to show the cruelty of war. In “The Sniper”, the cruelty of war is displayed, by not only the killing of the sniper’s own kind, but the difficulties he has to face, just to survive. An example of this, is the sniper having to kill a seemingly innocent woman, just so he can survive for the day. This story provides for a greater meaning of war, than just what is
In “The Sniper”, Liam O’Flaherty uses situational irony and external conflict to display that war has a negative influence on people. In “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty, it displays how the extermination
In the chapter “The man I Killed,” O’Brien narrates an incidence which had permanently destroyed his life, murdering an innocent man. He had a lot of difficulties describing the man he killed, and that is why he avoided using the first person in his narrative. The reason for doing this was to relieve some of his guilt which had possessed him. Nevertheless, O’Brien could not hinder himself from picturing a complete imaginary life for the Vietnamese soldier. He outlined the similarities that he possessed and those of the dead man.
Although the soldier he killed was an enemy soldier, instead of vilifying him he was able to humanize the man. O’Brien was able to describe the physical appearance of the soldier and imagine her life before war. The author was able to portray an emotional connection and made the line between friend and enemy almost vanish. This was able to reveal the natural beauty of shared humanity even in the context of war’s horror. O’Brien is able to find the beauty in the midst of this tragic and horrible event.
Liam O'Flaherty uses similes to enhance the story “The Sniper” by creating mental images and connecting the reader’s experiences to quotes in the story. In the beginning of the story, a civil war between the Free Staters and the Republicans is taking place. A Republican sniper is resting on a roof at night time, and looks over the streets of Dublin.
How does war affect your mind, body, attitude, and change your life? War veterans suffer every day from mental and physical illnesses that cause them to have problems. A person in war is affected in so many more ways than anyone could think of. In “Ambush” by Tim O’Brien, the narrator was changed by the war experience.
In Liam O’Flaherty’s The Sniper, the main character, a sniper, is in the middle of a civil war in Dublin, Ireland. It is his assigned duty to assassinate anyone on the the other side of the war, no matter who they are. This creates a huge conflict, considering that the sniper ends up killing his brother. This supports the central theme that war is cruel, and this can be supported by the craft elements of the dialogue used and the setting of the story.