How a story by Frank O'Connor deals with the execution of two British soldiers during the War of Independence.
The brutality of war and its effects on ordinary people is the theme of Frank O'Connor's short story 'Guests of the Nation'.
Set during the War of Independence, the story centres on two Irishmen, Bonaparte and Noble, whose job it is to guard two English soldiers, Belcher and Hawkins, who are being held hostage in an isolated Cork farmhouse where an old woman lives.
During this period the four get to know each other, and relationships slowly form between the guests and the revolutionaries.
When news arrives that four Irishmen have been captured and executed by the British forces stationed locally, Bonaparte and Nobel receive orders to shoot the two hostages.
Bonaparte as the narrator recounts this traumatic series of events which changes him fundamentally as a person.
In the end he sees the world in a totally different way.
Frank O’Connor’s use of symbolism right from the start of the story, specifically light and darkness, is one of the ways in which the reader is prepared for its conclusion and central message,
He’s trying to show us what war does to decent human beings.
'Telefís Scoile : Literature : Guests Of The Nation’ was broadcast on 17 October 1968. The presenter is Augustine Martin and extracts from the story are read by Eoin Ó Súilleabháin.
'Telefís Scoile' was an educational television programme that gave school lessons in maths, science and literature. It was first broadcast on 4 February 1964 and continued throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
