As a sniper must create an optimal shot in order to hit their target, an author must create the best point of view for their works of literature in order to achieve understandability amongst its readers. In the short story, “The Sniper”, by Liam O’Flaherty, the narration follows the guidelines of the third person single-vision point of view, as the reader follows the narration of a sniper on his mission to eliminate the enemy. I ultimately believe that “The Sniper” can only be told in third person single-vision due to O’Flaherty’s attributions of an outside narrator to guide readers through the story, in addition to the restricted access of the main character’s thoughts and activities.
In order for an author to successfully establish third …show more content…
In the case of “The Sniper”, only one character, the sniper, has their thoughts released to the reader by the narrator. The limited information provided, as a result of the narrator focusing on just one character, can be argumentivally validated as a feature of third person single-vision by Valerie Vogrins “Point of View: The Complete Menu”, located within chapter four of Gotham Writers’ Workshop, “Writing Fiction”. In the chapter, Vogrin explains what exactly single vision outlines. “With this POV, the narrator has access to only one character’s mind. Thus, single vision refers to the way the narrator views a story’s events - through the eyes of a single character. The story is told by the narrator, from the perspective of a single participant in the action.” (Vogrin 85) With this provided, O’Flaherty’s short story sufficiently follows the concept of single-vision of third person narration. Near the middle portion of the story, the narrator provides details of the snipers contemplation and actions in the midst of an altercation with the enemy. “The sniper’s heart beat faster. It was an enemy car. He wanted to fire, but he knew it was useless. His bullets would never pierce the steel that covered the grey monster. Then round the corner of a side street came an old woman, her head covered by a tattered shawl. She began to …show more content…
One may argue that an unreliable narrator may actually result in a stronger form of potency. Valerie Vogrin explains in chapter four of Gotham Writers’ Workshop “Writing Fiction” that, “Using an unreliable narrator forces the writer to create two versions of the truth, a steep challenge. But if the POV is handled well, the results can be quite intriguing.” (Vogrin 85) Piggybacking off of Vogrin, one with a lack of education may be able to be describe events in a more efficient manner of simplistic words, and get straight to point, providing only the most important details. Likewise, what is not to say that “The Sniper” would not work in a point of view that does not provide any details of what the main character is thinking? What if, per say, the story is narrated by neither the sniper or his enemies, but by that of an innocent bystander hiding on the ground level of an abandoned store? A point of view that elegantly matches this approach would be the point of view of first person peripheral. Although one could argue that this bystander may be unreliable, how does one know that the individuals from either side would be anymore reliable? In spite of
In order for an author to successfully establish third …show more content…
In the case of “The Sniper”, only one character, the sniper, has their thoughts released to the reader by the narrator. The limited information provided, as a result of the narrator focusing on just one character, can be argumentivally validated as a feature of third person single-vision by Valerie Vogrins “Point of View: The Complete Menu”, located within chapter four of Gotham Writers’ Workshop, “Writing Fiction”. In the chapter, Vogrin explains what exactly single vision outlines. “With this POV, the narrator has access to only one character’s mind. Thus, single vision refers to the way the narrator views a story’s events - through the eyes of a single character. The story is told by the narrator, from the perspective of a single participant in the action.” (Vogrin 85) With this provided, O’Flaherty’s short story sufficiently follows the concept of single-vision of third person narration. Near the middle portion of the story, the narrator provides details of the snipers contemplation and actions in the midst of an altercation with the enemy. “The sniper’s heart beat faster. It was an enemy car. He wanted to fire, but he knew it was useless. His bullets would never pierce the steel that covered the grey monster. Then round the corner of a side street came an old woman, her head covered by a tattered shawl. She began to …show more content…
One may argue that an unreliable narrator may actually result in a stronger form of potency. Valerie Vogrin explains in chapter four of Gotham Writers’ Workshop “Writing Fiction” that, “Using an unreliable narrator forces the writer to create two versions of the truth, a steep challenge. But if the POV is handled well, the results can be quite intriguing.” (Vogrin 85) Piggybacking off of Vogrin, one with a lack of education may be able to be describe events in a more efficient manner of simplistic words, and get straight to point, providing only the most important details. Likewise, what is not to say that “The Sniper” would not work in a point of view that does not provide any details of what the main character is thinking? What if, per say, the story is narrated by neither the sniper or his enemies, but by that of an innocent bystander hiding on the ground level of an abandoned store? A point of view that elegantly matches this approach would be the point of view of first person peripheral. Although one could argue that this bystander may be unreliable, how does one know that the individuals from either side would be anymore reliable? In spite of