How Does Liam O Flaherty Build Suspense In The Sniper

“The Sniper” When a reader is so fully immersed by a story, that they are on the fringes of their seats. A strong sense of anticipation is emitted throughout their brain, a feeling of what is to come next. “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty does just that, leaving reader in an ever-present state of suspense. The book details the events of a war torn Dublin, Ireland. The Republicans and the Free-Staters are waging a civil war. A Republican Sniper is hiding on the rooftops. As he conceals himself he sees a glare, which he can only assume to be an enemy sniper attempting to shoot him. He thinks of a plan, knowing he must escape somehow without alerting the enemy sniper to the fact that he is aware of his presence. The Republican sniper manages to kill the enemy sniper. At the end of the story, out of curiosity, he wanders to the building across to see whom he had killed. Shockingly enough, he discovers he had killed his own brother. In the short story, “The Sniper,” author Liam O’Flaherty includes the element of surprise to reveal that war causes not only physical risk, but also

The Republican Sniper kills both a man and an elderly woman, before he kills the enemy sniper. After he kills the enemy sniper, “the sniper looked at his enemy falling and he shuddered.” The word “shuddered” reveals that the sniper was in a sense of disgust when seeing his enemy fall their death. The sniper’s reaction implies that this is the first war has been involved in, and the killings he commits is different than what he is used to in his daily life. The war had been occupying so much of his time; “…he began to gibber to himself, cursing the war, cursing himself, cursing everybody.” After defeating his enemy, the sniper had realized how frustrating the war had truly been for him. He finally feels a sense of completion and that now a load of stress had been lifted off his