ENGL253 focuses on life history including autobiography and biography writing. You will be asked to reflect on the course readings and discussions by contributing to the classroom blog. Each student should write two entries per week. The length of each entry should not exceed 15 lines. Enjoy the blog!
At the beginning of the story, the sniper is described as a cold man, a man that has no feelings of compassion and whose mainly target is to kill the enemies. He is shown as a cautious clever man who carefully analyzes each step before taking it. As the story goes on, we discover that this same man who was presented as mainly a sniper, as mainly a "killer", is also a "human being" like all of us. At the end of the story, when he shot the man, we were able to notice a feeling of remorse that opened his curiosity to know the identity of his victim. This shows that he actually "feels" and is not the "cold man" that the author mentioned at the beginning of his story. Moreover, when he discovered that the corpse laying on the street was his own brother, a feeling of anger and resentment rapidly appropriated his body and mind. All of these shows the controversial character of the sniper and his emotional conflicts. He is a sniper but maybe he didn't choose to be one, maybe" the war" or the" big heads of the war" forced him to be one...
The sniper seems to be a strong, courageous character when we are first introduced to him. He is described in such a way so as to represent how experienced he is. This was evident when he was shown to be very cool and ready to take risks at any second. With the progress of events, we realize that the sniper isn't what we believed him to be. Although he knocked down three people, the sniper is described to be cautious and frightened when the car slowly passes by him. Then again, when he was hit, his determination and consistency were clear when he tried his hardest to forget about his pain and continue fighting the enemy. However, before the very end, we realize how weak and afraid he is when his teeth chattered and when he started to gibber and curse everything. He reaches a point where he does not really know why he is fighting. When he found out that the last corpse he knocked down was that of his own brother, he started feeling remorse and despair for the loss of him. He lost the "lust of battle." As we can see, the sniper is a very paradoxical character. He is a little bit of everything. He is strong and determined at times, but scared and weak at other times. What we know for sure is that he loves his family- or at least his brother- for the empathy he showed for the loss of him reflects his love to him- especially that he was reckless when he killed all the other people before his brother.
mainly in a war period a person kill another human being in an unconscious way.the sniper is a strong , clever and courageous man. He is clever because he pick a specific destination and specific time to shoot.however, a sniper has feelings. He doesn't care about his enemy but he cares about any person from his part. And after he killed a person and that person was his brother,a sense of empathy and regret toward what he did. in addition that person killed might not be his brother from his nuclear family .It may be his brother in humanity . The sniper has a sense of humanity such as a non sniper person.
The sniper of this story isnt like any usaul sniper that people define or know .The sniper of this story have controversial characteristics .In the beginning of the story he could be defined as a cool fighter by smoking a cigarette and eating a sandwich waiting to kill his enemy smoothly . When we proceed to the other events in the story we can deduce that the sniper isn’t what we had thought in the beginning of the story, he is a courage person, curious and caring sniper. The climates of this suspenseful story was at the end, when the sniper wanted to know what happened to his brother in humanity .He expressed his real pure feeling at the end of the story were he surprised all the readers.Fear and scariness was sensed at the end of story were the sniper risk his own life to have a look at the person whom he hurted.last but not least, the sniper ended up the story with high sense of humanity and courage that astonished the readers...
The sniper, at the beginning of the story, seemed to be a different person, a person who is courageous and is fighting to kill his enemies. The way the author described the sniper smoking his cigarette showed us that the sniper is a man who takes risk. Through reading the story, we discovered that the sniper himself is a human being who has a heart and was afraid at certain times. At the end, we distinguished that the sniper felt sympathy when he shot the victim, encountering the victim was his own brother. Thus, he felt regret and despair as a consequence of killing his brother to save himself.
At the beginning of the story, the sniper appeared to be a strong and brave character due to the author’s description. As a matter of fact, he appeared to be very easygoing passing by danger to accomplish his duty and the commands given to him. He showed no anguish when he was constantly in danger. We realized sort of psychological turmoil when he was constantly in danger and desired to relief his stress through taking a cigarette which was prohibited. However, there existed situational irony in which we readers expected the opposite just taking a look from the “outside” of the story without scrutinizing the inner feelings of the sniper. Eventually, it came out to be that the sniper was scared to death after killing three people. In addition, at the end of the story when he looked at his enemy that he had just killed, he was bitten by remorse. ”His teeth chattered, he began to gibber to himself, cursing the war, cursing himself!” We as readers then knew his true nature .He felt extreme guilt and regret especially when he knew that he had killed his brother. This shows that he really loved his brother through an intimate relationship. Killing his own brother audaciously without knowing played the role of a wake-up call .In short, the sniper was under the control and the commands of an upper authority. Although he killed a couple of people and shocked us by the strong character at the beginning of the story, he ended up feeling scared and guilt.
In my opinion, the sniper symbolizes the interior conflicts one lives between duty and feelings... between what we have to do and what we want to do. At the beginning of the story, he is shown as a rather courageous, intelligent and determined person who was also loyal to the mission assigned to him. The precise description of the way he plans the killing, observes the enemy and reacts cautiously gave him a professional portrait of deticated man. But when the situation got worse, the courageous man became a frightened persona now seeking to survive and escape alive . He began to question himself, question the purpose of his mission as if he was forced to do it. He knew he was fighting but never knew what he fought for or who he rly fought. At first, i thought he was really courageous but at the end i felt that i misunderstood his feelings. In my opinion, he wasn't courageous at all but rather indifferent. Indifferent about his life, about the purpose of his mission, about his enemy. Such an indifference made him look lifeless, soulless and controlled by the ones who forced him to accomplish his mission. At the end, when he succeeded to shoot his "enemy", he didn't celebrate it or feel happy about his victory. In fact, he was disgusted. And instead , lead by curiosity, he wanted to know who he had rly killed. The ultimate purpose of his mission! However, the story ends with a terrible surprise when he discovers that he has shot his own brother. His "noble" mission was nothing but a fratricide. The reader can only imagine the emotional shock and the feelings of remorse and regret that stroked him at that moment.
To start with, the sniper was portrayed as that fearless, heartless, and brutal killing machine. Moreover, he was delineated as a risk taker as he decided to risk being spotted by lighting up a cigarette. However, as we read on in the story, we conceived that this sniper was not the shameless sniper we once thought he was, we detected that although his duty was to be a merciless killer, he had sympathy and pity for his victims. Hence, he risked his life once again to go and reveal the identity of his latest victim, only to be astonished by the fact that that victim was his brother. Therefore, a feeling of anguish and remorse swept over him as he helplessly stared at his brother's corpse, apprehending the callous murder that he had committed.
With this character, profound internal conflicts are depicted with the transcending of events. It starts with the pettiest of scenarios: the lighting of the cigarette. This specific conflict, however minimal, portrays his situational behavior; taking a cigarette break even under the pretense of death. His external character may illustrate a man who has been molded by the harshness of the war to form an unforgiving ruthlessness and callousness that embarks on the deepness of his eyes, and sullen look of his cheeks. However, internally, he is shamed by what the war has done to him… Perhaps, he is ashamed of how unforgiving his human nature has become: Permitting himself to kill, allowing the hands and fingers of his body to pull a trigger that could end a life, and so, destroying his soul more and more with every pull.
Certain characteristics of a personality can be highlighted according to the situation a person is thrown in. The writer begins to show us the strong, fearless, and brutal aspect of the sniper’s personality. The sniper casually lights a cigarette knowing that this might lead to his death. Throughout the events of the story, fear overcomes the sniper’s emotions and his survival instinct is dominant. His need to kill is still evident, however, the purpose of the kill is for his own safety rather than to obey an order. This is when the sniper first starts to show weakness and fear since he was hit and the possibility of death has become more real. After the sniper takes out the enemy sniper, his relief is translated into joy. But as the brutality of the event sinks in, he feels regret, remorse, and guilt. I believe that the sniper’s true character was revealed after that last kill. After the adrenaline rush had died down, and after the fear of death had disappeared. It was then that the faint spark of humanity in him took over his mind and body, and he decided to know the identity of his final target.
O’Flaherty, the author of the short story “The Sniper”, portrayed the sniper as a very controversial character. At the beginning of the short story, the sniper is identified physically as being thin and ascetic. Moreover, the character of the sniper is revealed to be fearless and being used to combat and war. He is strong-minded to the point that he risks his life over lighting a cigarette. He knew that doing this action was dangerous, yet he was determined to carry it out. Towards the end of the story and after the remorse of the crime he committed, the sniper proceeds to uncover his enemy’s identity. This reveals that the sniper did have a sense of compassion and concern in him. The sniper also unveils a mischievous side in tricking the enemy into believing he was dead. In my opinion, the sniper’s physical appearance, plans and actions reveal a very conflicting and controversial personality that was somehow affected by war.
At the beginning of the story, our first impression of the sniper was a geartless killing machine that take out anything or anyone that moves. However as we continue reading we notice that this same sniper showed murcey to an old woman crossing the street. He didnt shoot her at first. That what changed the readers impression of this guy and started to visualise him as a simpathetic and good hearted soldier. As we continue reading we realise that he was also a a risk taker. He risked his life twice and for no good reason; the first time he wanted to smoke a cigaret, so by linghting it up he risk of being seen by the enemy. The second time he went to identify an enemy he shot down, but turned out to be his brother.
The character at hand was non other than an average joe sniper. A blind follower of orders given by superiors he cares not about or their "cause". At first he was portrayed as a tired hungry soldier, with a blind need for a cigarette; this has shown his machine-like character, he disregards the consequences of his actions and just does whatever comes to his mind. Killing came natural to him, his targets were far from being humans through his eyes; moving targets. When he was hit and then his enemy's dead body fell from the rooftop, the sniper's character shifted dramatically from a ruthless killing machine back to a human being with feeling od regret, remorse and doubt. He was suddenly interested in knowing who his last victim was, afterall he or she was not just an enemy target, he was a human being who could have been anyone of his relatives or acquaintances.
At the beginning, the sniper was referred to as young and experienced - “His face was the face of a student… who is used to look at death” (Line 7). He also appeared to be confident since he decided to take the risk of being seen by lighting a cigarette in the untainted darkness. He knew that even if the match’s flash was spotted, he is strong enough to defend himself. The sniper’s personality started to shift shortly after he was spotted. “The sniper’s heart beat faster” (Line 27). However, he still had strong determination to kill the enemy and survive. Even when he got shot, he managed not only to nurse his forearm, but also to come up with a wise plan to kill his enemy. The sniper’s true nature appeared right after he shot his last enemy. “He became bitten by remorse” (Line 85). He came to his senses and did not want to be part of war anymore.
The sniper is an average individual. Particularly when facing a certain dilemma. He is instinctive and that makes him careless. However, he is aware of this carelessness. (Hunger, cigarette). He doesn't take his own being too seriously, which is healthy. His way of life was "democratically" chosen for him. "Democratically" because he probably consciously chose it himself, with just a little influential nudge from society. He lives by the norm, freely accepting his duties, which seem natural and unquestionable. It is easy to regard them as unquestionable. Right now, the quest is to survive within those boundaries. This is his mindset until the main event happens. He is confronted with the human nature. He feels empathy. He is worried about what he realizes is his own kind. He is tortured with curiosity, which, again, makes him forget himself and be careless. Curiosity is a powerful force, after all. When he realizes that he killed his own brother, we are left to wonder whether he is a new man now. Or maybe, judging by the way he has lived all this time, this switch is merely temporary.
It seems like the sniper was nothing but a normal man living a normal life before the civil war. It was a war that changed his life forever and transformed him to a deadly republican sniper. Perhaps he chose to fight for the Republican Party, but he didn’t look very enthusiastic or convinced with his new job. Instead he seemed to be a careless individual. In fact, he was so careless that he decided to light a cigarette even though he realized that the flash could reveal his position and expose him to death. He was probably just a man influenced like many other people by politics and Media. And so he became a sniper without realizing what was he doing or why he is doing it. He may have been able to defeat any “enemy” that stood against him but he wasn’t able to defeat his own demon which eventually led him to kill his own brother.
On a roof top in Dublin the Sniper is stationed with his rifle. To him war has altered his perspective in viewing things. He shows no mercy to neither men nor women and children. They are mere objects with no names, and with no faces just moving targets waiting to be shot. To this end the sniper is a living machine with no feeling and emotion. He lacks intelligence and intellectual thought. He lit a cigarette willingly putting himself in danger. The sniper is a demented human being because no ordinary person will carry out in such actions. Not only he situated himself in danger by lighting the cigarette ,but also by shooting on the other sniper thus revealing his location. As we move on the sniper was able to annihilate his enemy. Slowly the real human being is coming back to life inside of him. The curiosity rose instantly, he wanted to see the face of the other sniper. When he saw the enemies face he was back to his prevalent mind. Feeling of rumors , resentment , and exasperation filled his body. He is no longer that cold machine ; he is the moronic person who killed his own brother
in the beginning the character of the sniper could be described as a professional killing machine , who is brave and does not fear death . facing death , his point of view was changed . The incident has changed in his character , as he began to think further in his actions . Now the character of the snipe has become more sensitive, scared , and fragile. in my opinion , he became aware that his actions are meaningless. the sniper was brain washed by some leader ,who persuaded him towards killing and war , but then the dangerous incident , managed to enlighten him , making him more confused and scared.
Never would we have expected that a young man who was described having a student's face was to possess such ruthlessness against his enemies, though blinded by the fog of war and the lot of enemies at hand, the sniper later on frees himself from the mind shackles he's been held in once he was shot. He realized he was not ready to die for a purpose he was TOLD to support and serve, he's had enough. The sniper was very clever, as he outsmarted the sniper when he faked his own death by taking off his helmet and letting the sniper shoot it then let his hand hang off the roof, and afterwards shooting the sniper who was off guard with a revolver from a long distance even though his hand was shot and paining him, and this particularly showcased his wit and his will to survive. The sniper's curiosity overwhelmed him as he's seen that the streets are quite and clear, that only led him to discover he's killed his own brother.
The sniper, as described by O'Flaherty in the beginning, was a cold, strong, deep man. he was not afraid, in fact he was ruthless, because he was used to looking at death. he risked lighting a cigarette which adds charisma to his character. O'Flaherty also shed light on his talent of shooting, he was a killing machine that lay alone in the dark, all the time. The sniper was also smart, he created a plan, while he was shot, to escape, it succeeded, he killed his shooter. then the sniper's mood changed after bein hit, which is normal "the lust of battle died in him" which means that as soon as he was hit, he didn't want to continue anymore. he is also eager to know whom he has killed. he found out that it was his brother, which is not necessarily his biological one, maybe just because hes human, he killed a member of the same type, which was depressing to the sniper.
The sniper's character at the beginning was shown to be as a young tough man who is not afraid of death. to the point that he actually risked lighting a lighter just so he can smoke. He he is a strong young man who was trained to kill. kill anything that comes his way, men or even women and did not even hesitate about it or feel bad. all of this changed when he killed his opponent sniper and had the curiosity to see his face. seeing his face and finding out that he shot his own brother he changed a bit, he started to feel emotions, which he lacked before due to his ruthless soul.
At the beginning of the story, the sniper is described as a cold man, a man that has no feelings of compassion and whose mainly target is to kill the enemies. He is shown as a cautious clever man who carefully analyzes each step before taking it. As the story goes on, we discover that this same man who was presented as mainly a sniper, as mainly a "killer", is also a "human being" like all of us. At the end of the story, when he shot the man, we were able to notice a feeling of remorse that opened his curiosity to know the identity of his victim. This shows that he actually "feels" and is not the "cold man" that the author mentioned at the beginning of his story. Moreover, when he discovered that the corpse laying on the street was his own brother, a feeling of anger and resentment rapidly appropriated his body and mind. All of these shows the controversial character of the sniper and his emotional conflicts. He is a sniper but maybe he didn't choose to be one, maybe" the war" or the" big heads of the war" forced him to be one...
ReplyDeleteThe sniper seems to be a strong, courageous character when we are first introduced to him. He is described in such a way so as to represent how experienced he is. This was evident when he was shown to be very cool and ready to take risks at any second. With the progress of events, we realize that the sniper isn't what we believed him to be. Although he knocked down three people, the sniper is described to be cautious and frightened when the car slowly passes by him. Then again, when he was hit, his determination and consistency were clear when he tried his hardest to forget about his pain and continue fighting the enemy. However, before the very end, we realize how weak and afraid he is when his teeth chattered and when he started to gibber and curse everything. He reaches a point where he does not really know why he is fighting. When he found out that the last corpse he knocked down was that of his own brother, he started feeling remorse and despair for the loss of him. He lost the "lust of battle." As we can see, the sniper is a very paradoxical character. He is a little bit of everything. He is strong and determined at times, but scared and weak at other times. What we know for sure is that he loves his family- or at least his brother- for the empathy he showed for the loss of him reflects his love to him- especially that he was reckless when he killed all the other people before his brother.
ReplyDeletemainly in a war period a person kill another human being in an unconscious way.the sniper is a strong , clever and courageous man. He is clever because he pick a specific destination and specific time to shoot.however, a sniper has feelings. He doesn't care about his enemy but he cares about any person from his part. And after he killed a person and that person was his brother,a sense of empathy and regret toward what he did. in addition that person killed might not be his brother from his nuclear family .It may be his brother in humanity . The sniper has a sense of humanity such as a non sniper person.
ReplyDeleteThe sniper of this story isnt like any usaul sniper that people define or know .The sniper of this story have controversial characteristics .In the beginning of the story he could be defined as a cool fighter by smoking a cigarette and eating a sandwich waiting to kill his enemy smoothly . When we proceed to the other events in the story we can deduce that the sniper isn’t what we had thought in the beginning of the story, he is a courage person, curious and caring sniper. The climates of this suspenseful story was at the end, when the sniper wanted to know what happened to his brother in humanity .He expressed his real pure feeling at the end of the story were he surprised all the readers.Fear and scariness was sensed at the end of story were the sniper risk his own life to have a look at the person whom he hurted.last but not least, the sniper ended up the story with high sense of humanity and courage that astonished the readers...
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe sniper, at the beginning of the story, seemed to be a different person, a person who is courageous and is fighting to kill his enemies. The way the author described the sniper smoking his cigarette showed us that the sniper is a man who takes risk. Through reading the story, we discovered that the sniper himself is a human being who has a heart and was afraid at certain times. At the end, we distinguished that the sniper felt sympathy when he shot the victim, encountering the victim was his own brother. Thus, he felt regret and despair as a consequence of killing his brother to save himself.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the story, the sniper appeared to be a strong and brave character due to the author’s description. As a matter of fact, he appeared to be very easygoing passing by danger to accomplish his duty and the commands given to him. He showed no anguish when he was constantly in danger. We realized sort of psychological turmoil when he was constantly in danger and desired to relief his stress through taking a cigarette which was prohibited. However, there existed situational irony in which we readers expected the opposite just taking a look from the “outside” of the story without scrutinizing the inner feelings of the sniper. Eventually, it came out to be that the sniper was scared to death after killing three people. In addition, at the end of the story when he looked at his enemy that he had just killed, he was bitten by remorse. ”His teeth chattered, he began to gibber to himself, cursing the war, cursing himself!” We as readers then knew his true nature .He felt extreme guilt and regret especially when he knew that he had killed his brother. This shows that he really loved his brother through an intimate relationship. Killing his own brother audaciously without knowing played the role of a wake-up call .In short, the sniper was under the control and the commands of an upper authority. Although he killed a couple of people and shocked us by the strong character at the beginning of the story, he ended up feeling scared and guilt.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the sniper symbolizes the interior conflicts one lives between duty and feelings... between what we have to do and what we want to do.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the story, he is shown as a rather courageous, intelligent and determined person who was also loyal to the mission assigned to him.
The precise description of the way he plans the killing, observes the enemy and reacts cautiously gave him a professional portrait of deticated man.
But when the situation got worse, the courageous man became a frightened persona now seeking to survive and escape alive . He began to question himself, question the purpose of his mission as if he was forced to do it. He knew he was fighting but never knew what he fought for or who he rly fought. At first, i thought he was really courageous but at the end i felt that i misunderstood his feelings. In my opinion, he wasn't courageous at all but rather indifferent. Indifferent about his life, about the purpose of his mission, about his enemy. Such an indifference made him look lifeless, soulless and controlled by the ones who forced him to accomplish his mission.
At the end, when he succeeded to shoot his "enemy", he didn't celebrate it or feel happy about his victory. In fact, he was disgusted. And instead , lead by curiosity, he wanted to know who he had rly killed. The ultimate purpose of his mission!
However, the story ends with a terrible surprise when he discovers that he has shot his own brother. His "noble" mission was nothing but a fratricide.
The reader can only imagine the emotional shock and the feelings of remorse and regret that stroked him at that moment.
To start with, the sniper was portrayed as that fearless, heartless, and brutal killing machine. Moreover, he was delineated as a risk taker as he decided to risk being spotted by lighting up a cigarette. However, as we read on in the story, we conceived that this sniper was not the shameless sniper we once thought he was, we detected that although his duty was to be a merciless killer, he had sympathy and pity for his victims. Hence, he risked his life once again to go and reveal the identity of his latest victim, only to be astonished by the fact that that victim was his brother. Therefore, a feeling of anguish and remorse swept over him as he helplessly stared at his brother's corpse, apprehending the callous murder that he had committed.
ReplyDeleteWith this character, profound internal conflicts are depicted with the transcending of events. It starts with the pettiest of scenarios: the lighting of the cigarette. This specific conflict, however minimal, portrays his situational behavior; taking a cigarette break even under the pretense of death.
ReplyDeleteHis external character may illustrate a man who has been molded by the harshness of the war to form an unforgiving ruthlessness and callousness that embarks on the deepness of his eyes, and sullen look of his cheeks. However, internally, he is shamed by what the war has done to him… Perhaps, he is ashamed of how unforgiving his human nature has become: Permitting himself to kill, allowing the hands and fingers of his body to pull a trigger that could end a life, and so, destroying his soul more and more with every pull.
Certain characteristics of a personality can be highlighted according to the situation a person is thrown in. The writer begins to show us the strong, fearless, and brutal aspect of the sniper’s personality. The sniper casually lights a cigarette knowing that this might lead to his death. Throughout the events of the story, fear overcomes the sniper’s emotions and his survival instinct is dominant. His need to kill is still evident, however, the purpose of the kill is for his own safety rather than to obey an order. This is when the sniper first starts to show weakness and fear since he was hit and the possibility of death has become more real. After the sniper takes out the enemy sniper, his relief is translated into joy. But as the brutality of the event sinks in, he feels regret, remorse, and guilt.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the sniper’s true character was revealed after that last kill. After the adrenaline rush had died down, and after the fear of death had disappeared. It was then that the faint spark of humanity in him took over his mind and body, and he decided to know the identity of his final target.
O’Flaherty, the author of the short story “The Sniper”, portrayed the sniper as a very controversial character. At the beginning of the short story, the sniper is identified physically as being thin and ascetic. Moreover, the character of the sniper is revealed to be fearless and being used to combat and war. He is strong-minded to the point that he risks his life over lighting a cigarette. He knew that doing this action was dangerous, yet he was determined to carry it out. Towards the end of the story and after the remorse of the crime he committed, the sniper proceeds to uncover his enemy’s identity. This reveals that the sniper did have a sense of compassion and concern in him. The sniper also unveils a mischievous side in tricking the enemy into believing he was dead.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the sniper’s physical appearance, plans and actions reveal a very conflicting and controversial personality that was somehow affected by war.
At the beginning of the story, our first impression of the sniper was a geartless killing machine that take out anything or anyone that moves. However as we continue reading we notice that this same sniper showed murcey to an old woman crossing the street. He didnt shoot her at first. That what changed the readers impression of this guy and started to visualise him as a simpathetic and good hearted soldier.
ReplyDeleteAs we continue reading we realise that he was also a a risk taker. He risked his life twice and for no good reason; the first time he wanted to smoke a cigaret, so by linghting it up he risk of being seen by the enemy. The second time he went to identify an enemy he shot down, but turned out to be his brother.
The character at hand was non other than an average joe sniper. A blind follower of orders given by superiors he cares not about or their "cause". At first he was portrayed as a tired hungry soldier, with a blind need for a cigarette; this has shown his machine-like character, he disregards the consequences of his actions and just does whatever comes to his mind. Killing came natural to him, his targets were far from being humans through his eyes; moving targets. When he was hit and then his enemy's dead body fell from the rooftop, the sniper's character shifted dramatically from a ruthless killing machine back to a human being with feeling od regret, remorse and doubt. He was suddenly interested in knowing who his last victim was, afterall he or she was not just an enemy target, he was a human being who could have been anyone of his relatives or acquaintances.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning, the sniper was referred to as young and experienced - “His face was the face of a student… who is used to look at death” (Line 7). He also appeared to be confident since he decided to take the risk of being seen by lighting a cigarette in the untainted darkness. He knew that even if the match’s flash was spotted, he is strong enough to defend himself. The sniper’s personality started to shift shortly after he was spotted. “The sniper’s heart beat faster” (Line 27). However, he still had strong determination to kill the enemy and survive. Even when he got shot, he managed not only to nurse his forearm, but also to come up with a wise plan to kill his enemy. The sniper’s true nature appeared right after he shot his last enemy. “He became bitten by remorse” (Line 85). He came to his senses and did not want to be part of war anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe sniper is an average individual. Particularly when facing a certain dilemma.
ReplyDeleteHe is instinctive and that makes him careless. However, he is aware of this carelessness. (Hunger, cigarette). He doesn't take his own being too seriously, which is healthy. His way of life was "democratically" chosen for him. "Democratically" because he probably consciously chose it himself, with just a little influential nudge from society. He lives by the norm, freely accepting his duties, which seem natural and unquestionable. It is easy to regard them as unquestionable. Right now, the quest is to survive within those boundaries. This is his mindset until the main event happens. He is confronted with the human nature. He feels empathy. He is worried about what he realizes is his own kind. He is tortured with curiosity, which, again, makes him forget himself and be careless. Curiosity is a powerful force, after all. When he realizes that he killed his own brother, we are left to wonder whether he is a new man now. Or maybe, judging by the way he has lived all this time, this switch is merely temporary.
It seems like the sniper was nothing but a normal man living a normal life before the civil war. It was a war that changed his life forever and transformed him to a deadly republican sniper. Perhaps he chose to fight for the Republican Party, but he didn’t look very enthusiastic or convinced with his new job. Instead he seemed to be a careless individual. In fact, he was so careless that he decided to light a cigarette even though he realized that the flash could reveal his position and expose him to death. He was probably just a man influenced like many other people by politics and Media. And so he became a sniper without realizing what was he doing or why he is doing it. He may have been able to defeat any “enemy” that stood against him but he wasn’t able to defeat his own demon which eventually led him to kill his own brother.
ReplyDeleteOn a roof top in Dublin the Sniper is stationed with his rifle. To him war has altered his perspective in viewing things. He shows no mercy to neither men nor women and children. They are mere objects with no names, and with no faces just moving targets waiting to be shot. To this end the sniper is a living machine with no feeling and emotion. He lacks intelligence and intellectual thought. He lit a cigarette willingly putting himself in danger. The sniper is a demented human being because no ordinary person will carry out in such actions. Not only he situated himself in danger by lighting the cigarette ,but also by shooting on the other sniper thus revealing his location. As we move on the sniper was able to annihilate his enemy. Slowly the real human being is coming back to life inside of him. The curiosity rose instantly, he wanted to see the face of the other sniper. When he saw the enemies face he was back to his prevalent mind. Feeling of rumors , resentment , and exasperation filled his body. He is no longer that cold machine ; he is the moronic person who killed his own brother
ReplyDeletein the beginning the character of the sniper could be described as a professional killing machine , who is brave and does not fear death .
ReplyDeletefacing death , his point of view was changed . The incident has changed in his character , as he began to think further in his actions . Now the character of the snipe has become more sensitive, scared , and fragile. in my opinion , he became aware that his actions are meaningless. the sniper was brain washed by some leader ,who persuaded him towards killing and war , but then the dangerous incident , managed to enlighten him , making him more confused and scared.
Never would we have expected that a young man who was described having a student's face was to possess such ruthlessness against his enemies, though blinded by the fog of war and the lot of enemies at hand, the sniper later on frees himself from the mind shackles he's been held in once he was shot. He realized he was not ready to die for a purpose he was TOLD to support and serve, he's had enough. The sniper was very clever, as he outsmarted the sniper when he faked his own death by taking off his helmet and letting the sniper shoot it then let his hand hang off the roof, and afterwards shooting the sniper who was off guard with a revolver from a long distance even though his hand was shot and paining him, and this particularly showcased his wit and his will to survive. The sniper's curiosity overwhelmed him as he's seen that the streets are quite and clear, that only led him to discover he's killed his own brother.
ReplyDeleteThe sniper, as described by O'Flaherty in the beginning, was a cold, strong, deep man. he was not afraid, in fact he was ruthless, because he was used to looking at death. he risked lighting a cigarette which adds charisma to his character. O'Flaherty also shed light on his talent of shooting, he was a killing machine that lay alone in the dark, all the time. The sniper was also smart, he created a plan, while he was shot, to escape, it succeeded, he killed his shooter. then the sniper's mood changed after bein hit, which is normal "the lust of battle died in him" which means that as soon as he was hit, he didn't want to continue anymore. he is also eager to know whom he has killed. he found out that it was his brother, which is not necessarily his biological one, maybe just because hes human, he killed a member of the same type, which was depressing to the sniper.
ReplyDeleteThe sniper's character at the beginning was shown to be as a young tough man who is not afraid of death. to the point that he actually risked lighting a lighter just so he can smoke. He he is a strong young man who was trained to kill. kill anything that comes his way, men or even women and did not even hesitate about it or feel bad. all of this changed when he killed his opponent sniper and had the curiosity to see his face. seeing his face and finding out that he shot his own brother he changed a bit, he started to feel emotions, which he lacked before due to his ruthless soul.
ReplyDelete