The Englishmen in Guests of the Nation
“‘I want you and noble to bring them out: you can tell them they’re being shifted again; that’ll be the quietest way.’ ‘Leave me out of that,’ says Noble suddenly. Jeremiah Donovan looked at him hard for a minute or two. “All right so,” he said peaceably. ‘You and Feeney collect a few tools from the shed and dig a hole by the far end of the bog’”.
5th paragraph on page 296 from Guests of the Nation by Frank O’Connor
I think this passage shows a lot about the dynamic of the Irish soldiers throughout the story. The passage starts with Jeremiah Donovan explaining how he wants Noble and Bonaparte to start the process of taking the Englishmen to their death. Jeremiah clearly doesn’t seem to have much empathy for the Englishmen. Jeremiah’s orders are very blunt and he has no problem lying to them in a way that might give them false hope. It also seems a bit cruel that Jeremiah has Bonaparte and Noble play a role in the execution of the Englishmen. As we saw throughout the story Noble and Bonaparte felt very close with the Englishmen so the fact that they are contributing to their friend's death must be very traumatic. Due to all of these things, it is clear the Jeremiah is very obedient to his orders and doesn’t have empathy for the Englishmen that Noble and Bonaparte do.
Noble’s reaction to Jeremiah is really interesting because it shows how he cares for the Englishmen. It is clear to us that Jeremiah is of higher rank so the fact that Noble talked back in any way shows his emotions. However, it is interesting that Noble doesn’t try to get the execution to stop; he simply says “leave me out of it”. I think there are two ways to interpret this. One being that Noble is simply trying to avoid the emotional burden that comes with actively participating in the murder of your friend. Leave me out implies that he understands the action will happen and just doesn’t want to be involved. It is also possible that he understands there are orders to kill the Englishmen and there isn’t much he can do to fight orders. I think in general Noble knows what's going to happen and is just trying to avoid it.
After the initial words spoken by Jeremiah and Noble, the passage mentions how they pause for a minute or two. I don't know if you have ever been silent with someone in person but a minute or two is a long time. I get the vibe that Jeremiah had a moment of empathy where he realized what Noble and Bonaparte must be feeling and he takes some time to decide what to do. However, he sides with the military instructions and proceeds with telling Noble what to do in order to prepare for the execution. In terms of what was going through Noble’s head, I think this must be where he realized that this was going to happen no matter what and it is going to be rough for him but it's going to happen.
The last person to talk about in this interaction is the narrator, Bonaparte. Based on his reports of his interactions with the Englishmen we know Bonaparte liked them and definitely did not want them dead. Even at the end of the story, we hear that Bonaparte would defy orders and not shoot them if they tried to run. However, it is interesting that we don't hear more of opposition from Bonaparte since we have access to his inner thoughts. I am sure if this was narrated by Noble we would be hearing all his thoughts about how he wasn’t going to participate in this and how he adamantly opposes this. Although, I don't think this necessarily means that Bonaparte doesn't care. At the end of the story, Bonaparte talks about how separate he felt from the entire situation and perhaps he kind of just dissociated from the whole event and therefore we don't get much of his true emotions.
5th paragraph on page 296 from Guests of the Nation by Frank O’Connor
I think this passage shows a lot about the dynamic of the Irish soldiers throughout the story. The passage starts with Jeremiah Donovan explaining how he wants Noble and Bonaparte to start the process of taking the Englishmen to their death. Jeremiah clearly doesn’t seem to have much empathy for the Englishmen. Jeremiah’s orders are very blunt and he has no problem lying to them in a way that might give them false hope. It also seems a bit cruel that Jeremiah has Bonaparte and Noble play a role in the execution of the Englishmen. As we saw throughout the story Noble and Bonaparte felt very close with the Englishmen so the fact that they are contributing to their friend's death must be very traumatic. Due to all of these things, it is clear the Jeremiah is very obedient to his orders and doesn’t have empathy for the Englishmen that Noble and Bonaparte do.
Noble’s reaction to Jeremiah is really interesting because it shows how he cares for the Englishmen. It is clear to us that Jeremiah is of higher rank so the fact that Noble talked back in any way shows his emotions. However, it is interesting that Noble doesn’t try to get the execution to stop; he simply says “leave me out of it”. I think there are two ways to interpret this. One being that Noble is simply trying to avoid the emotional burden that comes with actively participating in the murder of your friend. Leave me out implies that he understands the action will happen and just doesn’t want to be involved. It is also possible that he understands there are orders to kill the Englishmen and there isn’t much he can do to fight orders. I think in general Noble knows what's going to happen and is just trying to avoid it.
After the initial words spoken by Jeremiah and Noble, the passage mentions how they pause for a minute or two. I don't know if you have ever been silent with someone in person but a minute or two is a long time. I get the vibe that Jeremiah had a moment of empathy where he realized what Noble and Bonaparte must be feeling and he takes some time to decide what to do. However, he sides with the military instructions and proceeds with telling Noble what to do in order to prepare for the execution. In terms of what was going through Noble’s head, I think this must be where he realized that this was going to happen no matter what and it is going to be rough for him but it's going to happen.
The last person to talk about in this interaction is the narrator, Bonaparte. Based on his reports of his interactions with the Englishmen we know Bonaparte liked them and definitely did not want them dead. Even at the end of the story, we hear that Bonaparte would defy orders and not shoot them if they tried to run. However, it is interesting that we don't hear more of opposition from Bonaparte since we have access to his inner thoughts. I am sure if this was narrated by Noble we would be hearing all his thoughts about how he wasn’t going to participate in this and how he adamantly opposes this. Although, I don't think this necessarily means that Bonaparte doesn't care. At the end of the story, Bonaparte talks about how separate he felt from the entire situation and perhaps he kind of just dissociated from the whole event and therefore we don't get much of his true emotions.
I think that this is a fantastic passage to look at. I think Noble's reaction in particular is particularly interesting in that it shows that Noble has an obligation to his nation, after all he is a guard, but is also emotionally obligated towards his friends, and he struggles with that. The way that, as you mention, he doesn't try to stop the execution shows that he is still somewhat loyal to his duty, but the way he distances himself from the event shows his loyalty to his friends and his obvious guilt for having to go through with their orders.
ReplyDeleteI think Noble's reaction is the most interesting in the sense where while he does care for the Englishmen and doesn't want to get them killed, that isn't enough for him to try to fight for to protect their lives. I just find interesting that despite the fact he knows this s a wrong thing, his loyalty still lies with his country. Honestly I don't think I could ever go to war because of the moral dilemma that I would constantly be going through in my head.
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