The Sniperat home, search Youtube for audio “The Sniper + audio + Liam”Before we read

In 1919, the newly formed Irish Republican Army launched guerilla warfare during the Irish War of Independence to liberate Ireland from the British. Unable to contain the rebels, London agreed in the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty to create an Irish Free State. However, the agreement would recognize the Free State only as a part of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Britain would permit six counties in northern Ireland to withdraw from the Free State. This would allow the British to maintain ports in the south, and require the Free State to pay part of the debt Britain incurred in waging the war.

Predictably, not all Irishmen accepted the 1922 agreement, the. (The six northern counties went with the “British”, as expected.) Once-united Irish fighters were now split into two factions–disgruntled (unhappy) IRA members and supporters of the Free State found themselves fighting a civil war. O’Flaherty, himself a member of the IRA, centers his short story on a scene of fighting in Dublin in which an IRA sniper on a rooftop, shoots at Free Staters.

Liam O'Flaherty was 19 years old when he joined the Irish Guards of the British army. The author fought in World War I, receiving a medical discharge in 1917, after experiencingPTSD.

In the 1920s, the author became very involved with Irish politics. He became a soldier once again, this time, for the Irish Republican Army. He took part in The Four Courts Incident.

"In April 1922, Republican forces occupied Dublin’s justice buildings, the Four Courts. They came under siege from the Free State forces. For several days in June, the Free Staters bombarded the Four Courts. They retook the buildings and captured the enemy leader. Before their capture, however, the Republicans blew up the Four Courts.”

A Free-State Armored Vehicle

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/northern_ireland/history/64206.stm

1921-22: The Irish Free State and civil war

Scene of the worst setback in IRA history

Customs House attack The Dublin brigade of the IRA attacks and sets fire to the Customs House in Dublin in May 1921.

Initial success turns to disaster, however, when they are surrounded.

Nearly 120 IRA men surrender in one of the biggest setbacks in the organization's history.

The Liffey (river) and the O’Connell Bridge (2012)

Memorial to the Republican Forces

THE AUTHOR’S WRITING STYLE

Rat-a-Tat Prose

.......O’Flaherty’s prose is straightforward and easy tounderstand. In "The Sniper," he frequently uses shortsentences to maintain suspense, as if the sentences arequickening heartbeats. Here is an example:

The turret opened. A man's head and shoulders appeared, looking toward the sniper. The sniper raised his rifle and fired. The head fell heavily on the turret wall. The woman darted toward the side street. The sniper fired again. The woman whirled round and fell with a shriek into the gutter.

Here is another:

There was a small hole where the bullet had entered. On the other side there was no hole. The bullet had lodged in the bone. It must have fractured it. He bent the arm below the wound. The arm bent back easily. He ground his teeth to overcome the pain.

Scan the story The Sniper, specifically looking for descriptive language. Each of you should take two pages to look at. Circle and identify as much as you can of the following:

metaphorsimilepersonification (there are almost none of these)imageryonomatopoeiaalliteration