The Sniper

What does the sniper discover about his enemy at the end of the story? What message does the narrator convey through this discovery?

The answer to the quwstion should be following these lines," Beside him lay his rifle and over his shoulders was slung a pair .......used to looking at death"

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At the end of the story, the fact that the sniper has killed his own brother is revealed. Through this story, the author illustrates the fact that this civil war has driven enormous rifts into Irish society. The sniper his enemy, and yet, he is curious about the man's identity. "He wondered did he know him," and he speculates, "Perhaps he had been in his own company before the split in the army." In the final sentence, however, the civil war's power to divide takes on even greater significance: "Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother's face." In this sentence, the reader realizes that members of the same family have become divided, and that when the war end and peace returns, families will remain broken.

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The Sniper