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The Sniper | Introduction

“The Sniper,” a story about the Irish civil war, was Liam O’Flaherty’s first published piece of fiction. It appeared in 1923 in the London publication The New Leader. Over the years, it has been reprinted several times, and as of 2004 it could be found in O’Flaherty’s Collected Stories. “The Sniper” helped set O’Flaherty firmly on the writer’s path. Upon reading it, Edward Garnett, an influential London editor, recommended a publisher bring forth the novel that O’Flaherty had just completed. Thus began a literary career that lasted for three decades.

O’Flaherty was intensely involved in Irish politics as a young man, joining both the Communist party in Ireland and later the Republican army. Nonetheless, throughout his career, O’Flaherty only wrote a handful of overtly political stories. In the fall of 1922, after taking part in the Four Courts incident as a Republican soldier, O’Flaherty fled Ireland. Settling in London, O’Flaherty procured a typewriter and wrote “The Sniper” while the devastating Irish civil war was still going on. O’Flaherty drew upon his experiences to create a piece of fiction that shows that the civil war had repercussions stretching far beyond the field of battle. O’Flaherty places his protagonist, a sniper, in a kill or be killed situation. After the sniper shoots an enemy soldier, he discovers he has just killed his brother. The sniper’s emotional detachment throughout the story, coupled with this startling ending, allows O’Flaherty to indirectly address the way in which the Irish civil war led to the disunity of Irish society.

The Sniper Summary

Late at night, a lone Republican sniper waits atop a rooftop in Dublin, Ireland. It is June of 1922. Nearby Republican and Free States forces battle over the Four Courts judicial building and throughout the city.

The sniper has been on the rooftop since the morning. Now he eats a sandwich and drinks some whiskey. He risks lighting a cigarette for a quick puff. The light from his cigarette alerts an enemy soldier to his presence. A bullet flies toward the sniper’s rooftop. He puts out the cigarette and switches position.

However, the flash of the rifle tells the sniper his enemy’s location. The sniper realizes that his enemy also has taken cover—on the roof of the house across the street.

In the street below, an armored car moves. The sniper knows it is an enemy car but it would be useless to shoot at it. As he watches, he sees an old woman approaching the car. She speaks to the soldier manning the turret, pointing at the sniper’s rooftop. As the turret opens and the soldier looks out, the sniper raises his rifle and shoots him, killing him. Then the sniper shoots the old woman as she... » Complete The Sniper Summary