THE SNIPERBy Liam O’ Flaherty

Prepared by:

Herma Shadra binti Khusaini (2012877332)Nur Syazleen bt Yusoff Lutefi (2012639786)Nur Syahira binti Sahumi (2012422842)Nur Auni Binti Salahuddin (2012857882)

Author’s Background Novelist and short-story writer Liam O'Flaherty

was born on August 28, 1898, in a poverty-stricken village on Inishmore Island in County Galway on the western coast of Ireland.

In 1915, he enlisted in the British Army during the First World War and suffered a serious injury two years later in a bomb explosion at Langemarck, Belgium.

Several of O'Flaherty's novels center on the effects of war, revolution, and social upheaval in Ireland in the early twentieth century and in the nineteenth century. O'Flaherty died on Sept. 7, 1984, in Dublin.

PlotExposition The IRA Sniper lay on the roof

engulfed in the dark night of Dublin as the sounds of Civil War echoed around him.

At this moment, the situation starts to tell the reader about the what the IRA Sniper will face that night.

Rising Action

When a bullet flattened itself

against the parapet of the

roof. The IRA Sniper then

crawled away to the left.

Luckily, the IRA Sniper did

not get shot.

Climax The IRA Sniper finally got

shot on his right forearm.

“Then catching the riffle in the middle, the IRA Sniper dropped his left hand over the roof and let it hang, lifelessly. (line 60). “

[the action is to show to the enemy that he is dead]

Falling The IRA Sniper shot the enemy.

He become filled with a feeling

of remorse.

“He began to gibber to himself,

cursing the war, cursing himself,

cursing everybody (line 88) “

Resolution The IRA Sniper decided to leave

the roof and planned report the updated of the war to the person in charge ( his commander). But then, he was curious to know the identity of his enemy who had put up such a challenging battle. Then, he turned over the corpse, he found his brother dead body on the street.

Themes War reduces human beings to mere

objects. They have no names, no faces. They are

targets, nothing more, to be shot at from a distance. To support this theme, O’Flaherty refrains from naming any of his characters. 

War knows no boundaries—age, sex, location, time of day, family ties. 

The IRA sniper is a young man, and the informer is an old woman. The fighting takes place in the heart of a city after sundown. The IRA sniper unwittingly shoots and kills his own brother.

This short story tells us about modern warfare at its darkest when a young man in a sense can become a fanatical killer for a reason that no many can see justifiable.

Characters IRA (Irish Republican Army) Sniper The Opposition (enemy) Sniper Turret Gunner An Old Unknown Woman Unseen Machine Gunner

IRA (Irish Republican Army) Sniper

The Sniper is the main character in the

story.

The member of Republican army that

positioned on a top of roof in Dublin.

He has the face of a student, thin and

ascetic, but his eyes had the cold

gleam of the fanatic.

Picking off people as he chose, he

seems calm at times, but he is also

a character that tired of killing.

A very curious army as after

thinking for some times, he chose to

take a look at the ‘enemy’ that he

shoot down.

The Opposition (enemy) Sniper

A member of the free state army and

wanted to kill the IRA Sniper that located

on the rooftop across the IRA Sniper.

He appears to has the chance to kill the

IRA Sniper but he made an error and falls

into the IRA Sniper’s trap.

He was shot down by the IRA Sniper

when he was standing up on his position

of the rooftop across the IRA Sniper.

Was reveled in the end of the story as the

brother of the IRA Sniper.

Turret Gunner

An enemy army that was positioned

at the turret.

Was shot by the IRA Sniper as the

IRA Sniper saw him looking at the

IRA Sniper.

An Old Unknown Woman An informer of the enemy.

Appeared in the story wearing a tattered shawl on her head.

She reveled the position of the IRA Sniper to the turret gunner.

Die after she reveled the information as the IRA Sniper saw her darted towards the side of the street .

Unseen Machine Gunner

The person who was shooting

the IRA Sniper after he leaves

the roof.

Setting "The Sniper" takes place in

Ireland's largest city, Dublin, on

the country's east coast on

Dublin Bay, an inlet of the Irish

Sea.

The sniper posts himself on a rooftop in

central Dublin near the Four Courts

building, which houses the high courts of

Ireland, and O'Connell Bridge, which spans

the River Liffey. The Liffey divides the city

into two sections as it runs eastward to

Dublin Bay.

The time is nightfall in June after

the establishment of the Irish

Free State in 1922.

The Four Courts building

Point of View The perspective is that of a 3rd person

narrator. The point of view is limited

because the narrator confines himself to

the protagonist´s point of view. That is to

say that he limits his narration to what is

experienced, thought, and felt by the sniper

who is in the center of attention in the

action and thus provides the “center of

consciousness”.

The narrator knows exactly what the

protagonist is going to do next and

observes him with a “camera-eye”

technique. Consequently, the reader

feels deeply with the protagonist and

his situation.

Who else but an omniscient narrator

could know that “his [the sniper´s] eyes

had the cold gleam of the fanatic”, that

they are “the eyes of a man who is used

to look at death”, and that “he must kill

that enemy". The text abounds in

countless examples of the Republican´s

thoughts and feelings, almost culminating

in self-denial.

The End Thank You!