Liam O Flaherty The Sniper Setting

“The Sniper” is a story written about the Irish civil war. It was written by Liam O’Flaherty’s which was his first published piece of fiction. It appeared in 1923 in the London publication /The New Leader/. Over the years, it’s been reprinted several times and as of 2004 it could be found in O’Flaherty’s /Collection of Stories/ but what did happen in “The Sniper”? This essay will describe its characters, climax, and setting for the reader to understand.

“The Sniper” takes place in central Dublin, Ireland, and near the O’Connell Bridge in June of 1922 during the night. Two snipers are on different rooftops near the Four Courts, an important government building. The Liffey River, which runs through the city, is also nearby. It’s in a peaceful urban setting that has been rocked by war. Since it is the night time, not
That ended badly though because the Democratic sniper figured out where he was and took a shot right through the others right forearm. He acted dead to make the other reveal his location which was successful. The Republican sniper took his shot and ended the Democratic snipers life. At first our narrator was quite happy that he had won but then he got curious as to who one of his best rivals was. He left his place and went to where the Democratic sniper’s body lay. He removed the mask only to find out that it was his brothers, giving out climax of the story.

This essay was to show the reader “The Sniper”’s climax, setting, and characters. It’s important to know these three literary elements of “The Sniper” because without them how could you understand the story itself. A quick summary of the short story is that their are two snipers on opposite sides of the Irish Civil War clash on a summer evening in June. The Republican sniper fakes his death to trick the other into standing up. While examining the corpse, the sniper realizes that his enemy was his own