Analysis of Frank O’Connor’s “Guests of the Nation”
and Philip MacCann’s “A Drive”

von: Lenka Eiermann

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 4

2. Guests of the Nation 4

2.1. Theme of the short-story  5
2.2. How the story is told  7

3. A Drive  9

3.1. Theme of the Short Story  10
3.2. How the Story is told 11

4. A Comparison 11

5. Literature  14

1. Introduction

In the following essay the sho rt stories “Guests of the Nation“ by Frank O’Connor and “A Drive” by Philip MacCann will be analysed and compared with regard to themes, the use of language, style, narrative voice and narrator characterization. Frank O’Connor, the author of “Guests of the Nation” was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1903 as Michael O’Donovan. He was interned during the Civil War. O’Connor first published in 1920; his short-story “Guests of the Nation” was published in 1931 in a collection of short-stories of the same name. Frank O’Connor is widely regarded as one of the masters of realistic short-stories in the twentieth century. He is also one of the most important translators of Irish poetry into English. Apart from short stories he wrote novels, literary history, biography, drama, travel books and extensive socially critical journalism. O’Connor’s fiction often deals with war experiences, childhood or priesthood.1

Philip MacCann, who wrote the short-story “A Drive”, was born in Manchester, England, in 1966. He grew up in Dublin and studied Creative Writing at the University of East Angia. His first book “The Miracle Shed”, a collection of short-stories published in 1995, won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. In 1999 MacCann was named in the Observer newspaper’s list of “21 Writers for the Twenty-First-Century”. He is also a regular writer for magazines and newspapers including “The Guardian”, “Prospect” and “The Spectator”. 2

2. Guests of the Nation

The short story „Guests of the Nation“ by Frank O’Connor is about two Englishmen, Hawkins and Belcher, who are held prisoner by a small group of rebels, somewhere in Ireland, during the Irish Rebellion. Belcher is a big Englishman. He is a polite, quiet fellow, who helps the old woman do her chores. Hawkins however is very small and always willing to argue about anything. Belcher and Hawkins are living in an old lady’s house with two Irishmen, Noble and Bonaparte, who are supposed to keep an eye on them. 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 officer in charge of the small Irish group. One evening Jeremiah Donovan tells Bonaparte that the Englishmen are not being held as prisoners, but as hostages. He informs him that if the English kill any of their Irish prisoners, the Irish will order the execution of Hawkins and Belcher in revenge. Later Bonaparte tells Noble what Jeremiah had told him. They decide not to tell the Englishmen because they think it was unlikely that the English would shoot the Irish prisoners. The next day there is a knock on the door. When Bonaparte opens and recognizes Jeremiah he knows what will happen next. While Noble and a few other men are digging a grave Bonaparte and Jeremiah are ordering the Englishmen to come. Belcher and Hawkins cannot understand what is going on because they believe that a friend could never murder a friend. But then Jeremiah shoots. After both of them are killed the Irishmen bury them.

2.1. Theme of the short-story

The short-story Guests of the Nation” is set after the First World War (1914-1918) and in the war between England and Ireland that ended in 1921. English soldiers were sent to Ireland as prisoners. In “Guests of the Nation” men from both sides of the fight are living together. They argue, play cards, discuss politics and religion and behave as if they were not part of the armed conflict that surrounds them. Then Feeney brings the news that the Irishmen have been ordered to execute the Englishmen. O’Connor points out that ideological differences are fleeting and relatively insignificant. Before Belcher gets killed he even says to Bonaparte: “You won’t come over to my side, so I’ll come over to your side. Is that fair?”3 He is willing to change sides and give up his personal ideology. The characters of the story have to cope with a difficult situation that is totally new for all of them. It is what one might call a frontier experience.

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1 Lalor, Brian (General Editor), The Encyclopaedia of Ireland, Dublin 2003.

2 British Council: Contemporary Writers. www.contemporarywriters.com\authors (30.01.2005).

3 P.427