The Sniper Symbolism

Words: 1418

Pages: 6

Open Document

“The Sniper” Analysis Paper

What mental and physical struggles do people endure during war? By what means do they survive? Liam O'Flaherty, a short story author, shares his tale of "The Sniper" that tells the personal challenges one man must overcome. Some may even say some of this short story was influenced by Liam's own life experiences. Liam was born in 1896 in the small village of Gort na gCapall on one of the Aran Islands in Galway, Ireland. Beginning at the age of twelve, he attended several colleges before obtaining a degree. Initially, O'Flaherty intended to join the priesthood, but in 1917 he left school to join the Irish Guard. He was injured in battle contributing to the cause of his mental illness, which became apparent when he suffered …show more content…
The protagonist also shows that O'Flaherty may have such as curiosity. When the sniper is certain that his opposer is deceased, curiosity overwhelms him and he walks through the open to investigate who he has killed. Leaving his cover, the sniper descends from his perch in the roof top, and risks being shot at for the opportunity to gaze upon the face of his enemy. The result from this action reflects many of the unexpected tragedies of war.

“The Sniper” begins with a republican sniper perched atop a roof on a June night. He decide that it would be a fitting to smoke a cigarette. He used a match to light his cigarette which forewarned an enemy sniper of his presence. As soon as the enemy sniper sent the light from the match he fired a bullet which nearly hit the sniper. The sniper crawled to his left and took cover behind a parapet. As soon as he peered around the parapet to scan for the opposing sniper another bullet whizzed over his head; however, this time the sniper seen the flash from the opposing snipers weapon. From there he rolled across the roof to a chimney stack. As he was planning his next move, an armored car came into view. The car pulled up slowly and stopped fifty yards from

The Things They Carried: A Theoretical Analysis

remorseful work of fiction that illustrated the horrors of war. In 2012, Chris Kyle published his novel American Sniper after his tour of duty in Iraq, a dedicated, aggressive memoir that depicts the war as a necessary evil. While The Things They Carried uses symbolism and point of view to describe the feelings of the soldiers fighting a war they hate, an excerpt from American Sniper uses synecdoche and foreshadowing to illustrate how a soldier will stop at nothing to ensure his country is safe.…

Words 334 - Pages 2

Tim O Brien Rhetorical Analysis

controversial. In Tim O’ Brien’s novel The Things They Carried, O’ Brien describes the pointlessness and horrifics of war. Meanwhile just recently Chris Kyle published the book American Sniper where he talks about his pride of the war and the honor of serving your country. While Tim O’ Brien uses imagery and symbolism to humanize the man he killed and show his frustration and disagreeance with war, Chris Kyle uses imagery and metaphors to show his pride and honor and also to help justify the kills he…

Words 376 - Pages 2

Italian Neorealism And Modern Hollywood Cinema

When representing real events this movement can fall flat, such as with the reasent film by Clint Eastwood, American Sniper, which depicts an “American War Hero’s” story as a sniper, but has also been glorified and in an article in the Rolling Stone magizine, the Reporter Matt Taibbi complains about “the self-righteous way Hollywood movie makers routinely turn serious subjects into baby food.”(Matt…

Words 1817 - Pages 8

Full Metal Jacket Film Analysis

to capture life through art. I must agree that just showing people life’s cruelty is impacting politically. Kubrick shows the cruelty of man and that all men in war are different as in the final scene where Animal Mother refuses to end the female sniper who killed their friends suffering. The peaceful Joker shows the complications of war as he is forced to fight for his enemy among his own team. Some might see this film as anti-war but, there is no real slant to it like in Platoon. It’s just…

Words 1089 - Pages 5

Tale Of The Christ Analysis

Bushman, and the 1959 MGM epic), the book, says C. L. Bennet, is "one of the most successful works of fiction ever written in any language." As a film, it is at once passionate and subtle, both action-packed entertainment and a testament to aesthetic symbolism. No brief summary of the story can do it justice, for there are many interconnected characters and subplots. Here, I present the essentials. The film tells the story of a wealthy Jew, Prince Judah Ben-Hur, who is reunited with his boyhood friend…

Words 2552 - Pages 11

1984: Nineteen Eighty-four and Orwell Essay

6George Orwell Literature and Totalitarianism I said at the beginning of my first talk that this is not a critical age. It is an age of partisanship and not of detachment, an age in which it is especially difficult to see literary merit in a book with whose conclusions you disagree. Politics — politics in the most general sense — have invaded literature, to an extent that does not normally happen, and this has brought to the surface of our consciousness the struggle that always goes on between…

Words 8315 - Pages 34