The Sniper Moral Injury
Doctor Jonathan Shay, MD, PhD, once said, “It has been used in two related, but distinct senses; differing mainly in the “who” of the moral agony. Moral Injury is present when there has been (a) A betrayal of “what’s right….”’ In war stories “Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?” and “The Sniper”, moral injury is seen when the main characters face trauma. Moral injury affected Private Paul Berlin when he reacts to a situation in a peculiar laughter, affected the sniper when he feels remorse for doing his own job and part in the war, and affected both protagonists by making the experience events that make them feel extreme distress.
First, Private Paul Berlin’s moral injury is caused by watching a fellow soldier die on his first day at war. This event is brought up multiple times. Berlin continuously speaks of acting like he is not actually at war, “He was pretending he was not in the war, pretending he had not watched Billy Boy Watkins die of a heart attack that afternoon.” (Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?”, pg.
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This is of great significance to the main protagonist, known as the sniper, because his enemy can also be seen as a reflection of himself. This event causes him to feel remorse and regret about his actions. For example, Liam O’Flaherty writes “The sniper looked at his falling enemy falling and shuddered. The Lust of battle died in him. He became bitten by remorse.” (“The Sniper”, pg. 3). This is an excerpt from the story that occurs almost immediately after he shoots and kills his enemy. It shows how horrible he feels for his actions and just how quickly his view of war changed. This event also caused him to despise the war, “His teeth chattered, He began to gibber to himself, cursing the war, cursing himself, cursing everybody.”(“The Sniper”, pg.3). This continues to show the extent of his emotions and the disgust he feels with
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Summary: All Quiet On The Western Front
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Death In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien
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What Is The Central Theme Of All Quiet On The Western Front Brotherhood
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Fear In The Things They Carried
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PTSD In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried
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Action Without Thought In 'The Sniper'
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The Sniper Theme Essay
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The Sniper Analysis
1187 Words | 5 PagesThe third person single vision point of view of a tough sniper fighting a civil war enemy, in Liam O’Flaherty’s “The Sniper,” plays with the reader’s emotions throughout the story. He employs third person single vision point of view to tell the sniper’s intense adventure from an outside narrator who has access to the mind of the protagonist. O’Flaherty chose third person single vision POV because distancing the reader is the only way to develop a tough protagonist that the reader can be intimate with, taking into account his limited intellectual skills. Having sensory details about the sniper from the single vision third person POV narrator in addition to knowing the protagonist 's thoughts while combating an enemy, allows O’Flaherty to characterize “The Sniper” into a hefty person. Some may argue, writing in first person point of view would have created a tough protagonist because they would see it through the eyes of the sniper who they automatically assume is resilient.
Keith Douglass How To Kill Analysis
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