The Sniper Summary and Theme

Summary: Free Staters and Republicans are at a civil war in Dublin, Ireland. The short story begins with the Republican sniper debating he wants to light his cigarette as it will blow his cover(on the rooftop). Eventually he lights the cigarette and it grabs the attention of the enemy. Consequently, the bullet barely missed the republican sniper. When the Sniper sees a tank on the road below him he sees an old lady talking to the old man in the tank so he shoots them as they are in the tan of the enemy's. After he shoots them the enemy from across the rooftop takes aim at him and manages to hit his forearm. The republican solider feels a lot of pain as he describes it with a lot of similes and irony. He eventually bandages himself and know that he needs to get back to his company's commander but he is unable to get there unless he gets rid of the sniper on the other side. So, he thinks of a plan in which he; the Sniper, placing his hat on his rifle to lure the enemy in. Then when the enemy fires at the hat, he would act dead by throwing his rifle towards the ground. This gives the enemy the illusion of winning. When the enemy is in plain sight, the Sniper would shoot him. When the plan begins to take place, the enemy believes it and begins to express multiple emotions. This brings success to the Sniper’s plan because the enemy decides to look over the parapet, which gives the Sniper the chance to shoot the enemy in the head. The winning of the fight brings the Sniper into an unusual euphoria, which is disturbed by the loud gun shot of his own rifle. The ironic turn near the end takes place when the Sniper comes off the roof, and goes to look at the body of the enemy, only to realize the body was of his own brother.      

Theme: In the short story, The Sniper, the author, Liam O’Flaherty, is trying to communicate that the aftermath of one’s choice is not always pleasant. This is shown in the narrative as the Republican sniper goes to inspect the body of his enemy. That is where he notices the face of the enemy is ironically his brothers. This frankly goes back to the theme since in the beginning he was portrayed to be “fanatic and ascetic,” as we deeply believed that the Republican sniper was doing the right thing. Later, after killing his brother, he starts to realize that the future is unpredictable. Hence showing the that theme is being shown that the after-effects of one's action is generally imprecise.