Summary Of Liam O 'Flaherty's The Sniper'

The short story, “The Sniper,” was written by Liam O’ Flaherty in 1923. Liam O’ Flaherty was born on Inishmore Island, which is on the western coast of Ireland, on August 28, 1898. O’ Flaherty enlisted in the British Army as a teenager in 1915 and served as a soldier in the First World War. He had suffered from a serious injury due to a bomb explosion while at war. After Liam had returned home from war, he was diagnosed with depression. The message O’ Flaherty was trying to portray was the idea that war does not have boundaries regarding to age, sex, or family ties, and that war can be lonely at times.

Liam O’ Flaherty starts the short story by introducing a young Republican sniper who is anxiously waiting for action on top of a rooftop near O’ Connell Bridge. Hungry since the morning, the sniper took out a sandwich and

The sniper dropped his rifle and then could not pick it up due to the pain. He had been shot in the forearm and could not move it at all. His instincts came in and he dropped low under the parapet. Drawing his knife from his pocket, he ripped open his sleeve to look at the wound. The bullet has not gone through the whole arm and he knew he must have fractured it. The sniper then took out field dressing and using his knife he took it and covered the bullet hole with cotton wadding to stop the bleeding.

Overcoming the injury, the sniper was going to kill the enemy. The sniper placed his cap on the tip of his rifle and raised it over the parapet. Immediately, a bullet pierced the cap, leaving the cap fall to the ground and the rifle tilted forward. The enemy, watching the cap fall to the ground, thought that the sniper had been shot. The Republican sniper chuckled as he gathered his rifle over the parapet. After such strategy taking into consideration, the sniper took a deep breath and fired. Once the smoke cleared, the sniper saw that he has killed the