Guests of the Nation-The Daily Ledger

"Guests of the Nation" is a short story written by Frank O'Connor, first published in 1931, portraying the execution of two British soldiers being held captive by the Irish Republican Army during the War for Independence. The story is split into four sections, each section taking a different tone. The first reveals a real sense of camaraderie between the IRA guards and the two English prisoners. With the two Englishmen being killed, the final lines of the story describe the nauseating effect this has on the Irishmen.

Neil McKenzie's stage adaptation of the story received a 1958 Obie Award.

Guests of the Nation

Plot summary

The story opens with two British Army enlisted men, Privates Hawkins and Belcher, being held prisoner by the Irish Volunteers near Ballinasloe, County Galway during the Irish War of Independence. They all play cards and argue about politics, religion, atheism, girls, socialism, and capitalism. The group is housed in the cottage of a fine old lady, who in addition to tending the house engages the men in arguments. She is a religious woman and quick to scold the men if they displease her.

Guests of the Nation

Bonaparte, the narrator, and his compatriot, Noble, become friends with the English soldiers. Jeremiah Donovan, the third Irishman, remains aloof from the others. He is the Commanding Officer of the local IRA Flying Column. One evening Donovan reminds Bonaparte and Noble that the two Englishmen are not being held as prisoners, but as hostages. He informs them that if the Crown security forces kill any of their IRA prisoners, the execution of Hawkins and Belcher will take place in retaliation. This news disturbs Bonaparte and he has difficulty facing his prisoners the next day.

Guests of the Nation

A few days later, Feeney, a Brigade intelligence officer for the IRA, arrives with the news that four Irish prisoners have just been brutally tortured and shot. Hawkins and Belcher are to be duly executed that evening. It is left to Donovan to tell Bonaparte and Noble. Private Hawkins, an atheist and self-described Bolshevik who has been mocking his captors' faith in Catholicism, notices Bonaparte and Noble's sadness and, thinking they are doubting their religion, Hawkins continues his taunts.

In order to get the two hostages out of the cottage, Donovan makes up a story about a transfer; on the way down a path into a nearby peat bog, he tells them the truth. At first, Private Hawkins does not believe him. But as the truth settles in, Hawkins tries to convince Donovan not to kill them, arguing that, if their positions were reversed, he would never shoot “a pal.” Donovan replies by angrily describing the British Army's torture and murder of the four Irish prisoners. In response, Private Hawkins asks to be allowed to desert the British Army and fight instead as an Irish republican, saying that he sees no difference between the two causes.

Bonaparte has misgivings about executing the two men and hopes that they attempt to escape, because he knows that he would let them go. He realizes that he now regards them as men, rather than as part of the anonymous enemy. Despite Private Hawkins’ pleadings, Donovan shoots Hawkins in the back of the head.

As Private Belcher fumbles to tie a blindfold around his own eyes before he is shot, he notices that Hawkins is not dead and tells Bonaparte to “give him another.” Unlike Hawkins, Belcher displays an inordinate amount of dignity and composure, even as he calmly talks about how hard his death will be for his wife in England. Donovan then shoots Belcher in the head. The group digs a shallow grave in the bog and buries the two Englishmen. Feeney leaves and the men return to the cottage, where the old woman asks what they have done with the Englishmen. No answer is given, but she immediately understands and falls sobbing to her knees to pray for both men's souls. Noble does the same. Bonaparte leaves the cottage and looks up at the night sky feeling small and lost. He says that he never felt the same way about the war ever again.