O 'Flaherty's Use Of Suspense In The Sniper'

Suspense is a feeling you get as you watch a person walk through a forest in the dead of night, a shark fin circle the swimmer, or a sniper take a breath before the shot. In the story “The Sniper,” by Liam O’Flaherty, there are many moments of suspense. Suspense to me is the feeling of uncertainty and anxiousness you feel about what might happen. 3 moments of suspense that caught my attention are, right before the sniper flipped over his brother’s lifeless body, when he shot the man in the turret, and right before he shot the enemy sniper with his revolver. My first example of suspense is the moments leading up to the sniper flipping over the enemy’s lifeless body and the outcome of his choice. “Whoever he was he wondered did he know him” (pg.169), this helps the story’s suspense because the thought that he might have known the man before the war started and when he flips over the enemy sniper to reveal his brothers body made everything seem more sad, his reaction to this outcome was cut off making the story even more suspenseful. That was my first example my next one is the moment the sniper shot the man in the turret and the woman talking to him. …show more content…
“Then round the corner of a side street came an old woman, her head covered by a tattered shawl” “She was pointing to the roof where the sniper lay. An informer.”(pg.166-167).This part of the story is suspenseful because the thoughts and the risk that he could get shot and injured or seen by the enemy sniper on the opposite roof. After the woman pointed at the sniper, the sniper shot and killed the man in the turret the woman turned and ran then got shot down. That caused a sadness that was filled with more suspense when the enemy sniper shot and injured him. My third and final example of suspense is when the sniper killed the enemy