His enemy had been hit"" (O' Flahtery 3). The lust for battle and the pressure of war makes the soldiers disregard their morals and celebrate the death of another. Later even the sniper knows he lost his morals and that the war has some evil. He was remorseful at killing the enemy. The pressure of war and someone shooting at him makes the sniper's automatic reactions and instincts kick in to kill the other man. Nothing can stop the overwhelming blood lust that goes along with war. When the soldiers are in the heat of the moment dead people opposite them is a good thing. This juxtaposes highly with any mores of any time period under normal circumstances without fear or pressure. When fear does come on there is nothing that can stop it, morals are lost and instincts begin to kick in.
Morals are a luxury that people cannot enjoy, or afford when their life is on the line. People value their own lives more than they value the lives and well being of others. In "The Sniper," the protagonist kills an "old woman, her head covered by a tattered shawl " (O' Flaherty 1) because she was "an informer "(1) and notified the enemy gunman about the sniper's location. Normally, even in war, it is immoral to shoot women and the elderly. The sniper brashly kills this woman to save himself. The sniper believes that the woman will inform others of his location which would ensure death for him, and possibly others on his side. In order to save himself, he puts aside his ideas of right and wrong to shoot this elderly woman. The sniper knows that it is nefarious to shoot the woman, but he also knows that it must be done for his own protection. Whenever there is the extra fear of your own life on the line, everything becomes more intense. This is true for the sniper who undoubtedly would never harm a women under normal circumstances, but his survival was more important, provoking him to kill her.
Similar to the sniper, Frank, the main character in the novel "Angela's Ashes," acts unethically in order to save himself.
