guests of a nation

8/3/2019 Guests of a Nation

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/guests-of-a-nation 1/3

Blake Wilson

Dr. Greene

ENGL 1020

Sept. 18, 2011

Analyzing “Guests of the Nation”

During 1923 several wars/riots were breaking out in Ireland over land and

freedom of human rights. During this time England was pushing hard on the settlers and

natives of Ireland to live under English rule and submit to the King’s law. But an Irish

Republican Army was enlisted to fight back against the new English government. The

author Frank O’Connor wrote this story hoping to express his emotions and experiences

from when he was fighting in the war as a young man and show that some people can get

along with others nations over time but some will never learn at all.

The difference between England and Ireland are drastic in many ways because of

their governments, technological age and views on the world. For instance England was

way more advanced and further ahead than Ireland was at the time, with their navy and

weapons. Also England’s large government was expanding much more quickly than

Ireland’s, making it thirst for dominance everywhere it could reach. So even though

Ireland was weaker than England the population was very moderately spaced throughout

the area with settlers and farmers. This plus their difficult land and terrain made it hard to

combat the Irish when fighting on their turf. The setting of “Guests of the Nation” takes

place somewhere Midwest near Claregalway Ireland, in the middle of a forest, in a small

house. The story is told from the point of view of an Irish soldier named Bonaparte. His

friends who helped in watching the two Englishmen were Noble a caring, talkative young



man like Bonaparte who is honorable; Jeremiah Donovan a shy, awkward man who

always has his hands in his pockets and does not say much but is always serious; Feeny a

Intelligence Officer who just watches and reports the news, and the Old Woman who is

the care taker and the owner of the house. The two Englishmen were Belcher the big,

caring fool who likes to help people; and Hawkins is the small, talkative, rude man who

does not believe in religion and no afterlife, so he likes to live life to the fullest.

The main conflict in the “Guests of the Nation” is the struggle between the Irish

and the English. For example they both wanted to rule and live free and have their own

independence but with the other one nation in their way they could not achieve that goal.

The short story it goes into detail about how the two nations treat each other and for the

most part seems peaceful. So why can’t they get along? Well because each nation has

their own views on life, goals and they differ from one another drastically. During the

middle of the story you can tell that the two nations do not like each other because the

Old Woman yells at the two Englishmen when she first meets them and at the end

Hawkins snaps and starts telling them that they are not friends because friends would not

kill each other.

Some internal conflicts can be seen in most of the characters such as Hawkins

talks so much so that he does not have to think about his mother and Belcher is so quiet

because he lost his whole family and there is a great deal of stress on his shoulders. As

for the Jeremiah, he just is all quiet and nervous because he has been a soldier too long

and stresses about everything and wants it all to get done right away. Noble and

Bonaparte’s only real internal conflict is the fact that they do not like to be in the

situation they are in because they want to be in the field fighting as soldiers.



The author Frank O’Connor wrote this story hoping to express his emotions from

when he was fighting in the war as a young man and show that some people can get along

with others nations over time but some will never learn at all. He meant to prove this by

showing some of his old experiences while in the war and showing the connection that

sometimes can be made between two nations if spent together long enough. Which is

why he wrote about the two Englishmen and how they interacted and grew on the other

Irish soldiers so by the end of the story it was hard to have to end their lives but it came

down to following orders but if they really wanted to, they could of let the hostages live

free.

guests of a nation

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