Rarely Ever Black and White

¶ … rarely ever black and white and our responses to them alter our lives whether we believe they will or not. One story that brings this idea into focus is Frank O'Connor's "Guests of the Nation." In this tale, O'Connor presents us with the difficult nature of duty when it comes up against doing the right thing. While being a soldier may seem like a cut and dry operation, O'Connor demonstrates how fulfilling one's duty can be harmful if one chooses to ignore one's moral compass. These men where soldiers following order but deep down they know something is not right with what they have done. Bonaparte, especially, experiences difficulty reconciling his actions after the deed is done. Donovan, more willing to be a solider than Bonaparte, experiences similar anguish at the end of the story. With them O'Connor demonstrates the power and consequence of choice. In the end, one must not follow orders; one must follow one's own compulsion.

Differences between Bonaparte and Donovan arise upon the news of the execution. Bonaparte realizes he cannot the difference between the Irish and the British prisoners. He struggles with saying anything to Donovan at all be cause he would not understand. Bonaparte feels such a connection with the prisoners that he discusses with Noble whether or not they should be aware of their fate. Bonaparte struggles with speaking to the prisoners the next morning and admits he did not "know how we got through that day, but I was very glad when it was over" (1025). Bonaparte changes. It is worth noting that Noble changes as well. They are both experiencing the same thing when it comes to execution. However, they are on opposite sides of combat. Donovan follows orders and expresses no loyalty to the friends he has made in the prisoners. He lays the groundwork for the others, as he puts emotions and morals aside and behaves like a soldier. We see this stiff exterior crack when he fails to follow through with Belcher's execution.

Bonaparte, on the other hand, is more compassionate. He quickly steps out of his role as soldier and into the role of friend. Instinctively, he feels no loyalty to any side of the war because he is operating from a purely human standpoint. Donovan's ability to keep it together is striking and compelling for Bonaparte because while he can quickly fall out of the role of soldier, he cannot quickly remove himself from the situation. In fact, he is stuck with those men and there is little he can do. His humanity overwhelms him on the way to the bog. He finds himself "so sick" (1027) that he cannot answer Hawkins. Incapable of doing anything himself, he secretly wishes the prisoners would run away knowing he would do nothing to stop them. Bonaparte struggles with the right thing to do and the thing to do in a combat situation from the moment he becomes aware of his duty. Donovan does not. It is worth noting the irony when he does experience trouble when Belcher does not die along with the irony of Bonaparte's ability to fire the shot that kills Belcher.

O'Connor demonstrates the delicate psyche of man with these two soldiers reacting differently to the same circumstance. Even in the midst of war, we must follow our moral compass. Bonaparte's conscience nagged him from the moment he knew about the execution. He should have listened to this instead of becoming concerned about being a good soldier. The ramifications of not following his instinct results in a lack of faith in himself and humanity. At the end of the story, Bonaparte experiences a chasm between him and the morals he once knew. He is alienated from everything and states even the "birds and the bloody stars were all far away" (1030). He also admits he feels "very small and very lost and very lonely like a child astray in the snow" (1030). The last sentence is the most gripping, revealing the full scope of his situation. He says, "And anything that ever happened to me afterwards, I never felt the same about again" (1030). Here we see the evidence of regret. Bonaparte cannot change what has happened and sadly, he must live with it for the rest of his life. We must believe him when he says he will never be the same again and feel empathy for the man that must live with his guilty conscious forever. Murder must be a horrible weight to bear and O'Connor makes it palpable in this scene with Bonaparte feeling so small in the forest.

O'Connor uses the setting of "Gusts of the Nation" to emphasize the brutality of war. These men were forced to make a decision that went against their personal leanings. O'Connor allows these men time to get know one another like neighbors or coworkers; he allows them to engage in friendly arguments about politics and religion and we see a bond developing between them. This is a human experience; this is how men behave when they are put together. O'Connor's deliberate tactic of placing the men in a situation where they would become acquainted is no mistake. War is the least likely place one might think to make a friend but as this story demonstrates, it happens. What we are to make of that when it does happen is the crux of the story. We often hear the phrase "war is hell" and this story makes this statement more true but also more sad because they had it within them to stop but they did not. Bonaparte could have resisted on the way to the bog and perhaps Donovan would have agreed with him. A poorly-executed escape would have served all men better than a pointless execution. O'Connor is telling us this is what war does to men.