The Sniper Thesis

438 Words2 Pages

¨The Sniper¨ by Liam O'Flaherty is about a dark night in Dublin that was quiet, although they were in the middle of war, the sniper decided to light a cigarette causing a spark that was noticed by the enemies. He gets shot at and acts dead to trick the enemy, which works! He sits up and shoots his enemy, later seeing it was his brother. Through the plot of the story, readers believe it is about sacrificing things for your beliefs.

In the beginning, the sniper is sitting on a rooftop contemplating lighting a cigarette. The text says, “Placing a cigarette between his lips, he struck a match. There was a flash and a bullet whizzed over his head.”(page 225) This quote is needed to understand the story because it shows when the fight starts. These two sentences show how brave the sniper is when he is putting his life at risk for what he believes in. …show more content…

After shooting the enemy, “The sniper looked at his enemy falling. The lust of battle died in him. He became bitten by remorse” (227) this quote is important because it explains how this is difficult for the sniper and how he is already hurt by what he did. This connects to the theme statement because it shows how the sniper sacrificed his happiness to win the war.

At the end of the story, the sniper is curious about who he shot. The story says, “He decided to risk going over to have a look at him.” … “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother's face” (228) this quote adds an upsetting end to the story when the sniper realizes he shot his own brother. This is a very important part of the story because it shows that the sniper gets mentally hurt even more. It connects with the theme statement because it shows how he sacrificed his own brother to win a

Open Document