“What a cruel thing war is… to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors. ” Military General in American Clvil War, Robert E. Lee. Lee was is known for commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the American civil war (Wikipedia). Lee eluded that war often has the tendency for brothers and friends to turn their backs on one and other. The idea of war is to have mankind gain a sense of peace on earth. However it is in fact, decaying our civilization, along with mankind. “The Sniper” by Liam O? Flaherty and the poem “The
Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy are two pieces that deal with the issues of war, and in fact share many similarities and differences in the areas of plot, irony, and theme. Liam O’Flaherty “The Sniper”, and Thomas Hardy’s “The Man He Killed” both share many similarities and difference through both of their works in works of plot. An example of a similarity would be that the main characters in both the story and poem is that both men are fighting in war. An example from “The Sniper” would be, “Here and there through the city, machine guns and rifles broke the silence of the night, spasmodically, like dogs arking on lone farms.
Republicans and Free Staters were waging civil war. ” (O? Flaherty 206). This quote is showing the way that the sound of the war took over the city, in the part of the town the war was taking place in. Another quote to support ” But how the two works are similar in terms of plot would be, ” ranged as infantry, and staring face to face, I shot at him as he at me, and killed him in his place” (Hardy 2). To summarize this quote, the soldier was telling about how he killed his enemy in war before his enemy could kill him, and had no choice.
Though both the short story and poem share many similarities for plot, they also share many differences as well. A difference between the two would be that in “The Man He Killed” , he did not know who he had shot, though it was war and he had to kill his enemy. Unlike in the story “The Sniper”, it turned out to be his own brother. For example, “He threw himself downward beside the corpse. The machine gun stopped. Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face” (O’Flaherty 208). The author is implying what the soldier witnessed after shooting his enemy.
On the other hand, in Thomas Hardy’s poem, the man was curious of his enemy. “He and I but met/ By some old ancient inn” (Hardy 1). This quote is conveying that the man had just met his enemy and had not known him prior to the moment he murdered him. To conclude, both the story and poem share similarities and differences in their works of plot. The author shows Irony in both writing pieces as well. A similarity in terms of irony for both writing pieces from “The Sniper” would be, “The sniper looked at his enemy falling and shuddered. The lust of the battle died in him.
He became bitten by remorse” (O? Flaherty 208). This uote is interpreting how the man felt after killing his enemy. On the other hand, from the poem says “Yes, quaint and curious war is! ” (Hardy 5). The author was demonstrating verbal irony because the war was sufficient with repentance. This also shows that the man from the poem wished to have sat down and shared a beer with his enemy, instead of being in war. One difference of irony between the two stories is that the sniper killed his own brother, unlike the man in the poem who shot a man he had never met.
The assassin from the poem had not known the stranger he had murdered, unlike the executioner ho had known who it was when he flipped over the corpse from the story. “The sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face” (O’Flaherty 208). This is also an example of situational irony, because the reader or assassin was not expecting his brother to be the enemy. In like manner, it illustrates what the assassin saw when he had turned over his enemy’s body to see it was his own sibling he murdered. The man from the poem, “The Man He Killed”, ended a life of someone he did not know, “Had he and I but met” (Hardy 209).
The soilder from the poem had not known the stranger he had urdered, unlike the executioner who had known who it was when he flipped over the corpse from the story. Overall, both works share similarities as well for irony. Both the poem along with the story share similarities in differences when it comes to irony. The two readings also have similarities and differences between their themes. The theme similarity was that war turns regular, average people into stone hard soldiers. For example, Liam O’Flaherty explains the reference that says, “His face was the face of a student, thin and ascetic, but his eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic.
They were deep and thoughtful, the eyes of a man who is used to looking at death” (O? Flaherty 206). The author was conveying that the sniper was once a well mannered and behaved student who had to become a soldier for the sake of everybody’s freedom, and it turned him into a killer who was used to seeing death. “The Man He Killed,” says, “Had he and I but met by some old ancient inn, we should have sat us down to wet right many a nipperkin! ” (Hardy 1). In this quote, the man who was fighting as infantry was exclaiming that they could have been regular people at a bar, but instead they both were oldiers in war and had become enemies.
Although both pieces have similarities, they also have differences. For example “The Sniper” supports its own theme by saying, “He became bitten by remorse. The sweat stood out in beads on his forehead. Weakened by his wound and the long summer day of fasting and watching on the roof, he revolted from the sight of the shattered mass of his dead enemy” and also “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face” (O’Flaherty 208). These quotes together say that altogether the theme of this story was that war tears families part because the sniper shot and killed his brother unexpectedly. he war turned brother against brother. Although, “The Man He Killed” has a different theme and it states, “I shot him dead because–because he was my foe, just so: my foe of course he was; That’s clear enough; although.. he thought he’d ‘list, perhaps, off hand like-just as l–” (Hardy 3&4). In other words, the foot soldier, still curious about war, is thinking about how the man he killed, he could have gotten along, but war caused them to become enemies. The theme of this literary piece is that war tears friends and family apart.
To conclude, both literary devices have similarities and differences within their theme. Both “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty and the poem “The Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy share many similarities as well as they way they differentiate in the terms of plot, irony (situational and verbal), and theme, that can be contrasted and compared. Wars are always different and similar in many ways. War messes with soldiers physically and mentally, and decay our society instead of gaining peace on earth. The authors did a great job using plot, irony, and theme to show what war really can do to a soldier.
