Guests Of The Nation Analysis

The author, Tim O'Brien, is writing about an experience of a tour in the Vietnam conflict. This short story deals with inner conflicts of some individual soldiers and how they chose to deal with the realities of the Vietnam conflict, each in their own individual way as men, as soldiers.

The British have reigned over the Irish so long and so cruelly that they have left Ireland in “state of dependence” psychologically, politically, and economically. In other words, the “ideology of Protestant consumption” has “actually eroded” the self-confidence and sense of worth of the Irish so badly that it has left Ireland a nation unable to sustain itself (Mahoney). England is eating up Ireland. But this tribulation cannot be blamed solely on the British. Swift cleverly condemns the British aristocracy for their mistreatment of the Irish people while also criticizing the Irish people for allowing this exploitation.

“a mountain/within which a cave/where was heard/a stream’s faint murmur/ and seen the mirrored glance/ of an iridescent bird’s/luminous eyes/a cave/across the ridged walls/of which gallops and flickers/a herd of elk/ and on the sandy/floor beneath the feathers of firelight” (24).

With this part of the story, O’Brien is able to inject the theme of shame motivating the characters in the book. This chapter is about how the author, who is also the narrator, is drafted for the war. He runs away to the border between Canada and the United States, he stays in a motel with an old man for about a week and finds that he should go to war for his country. In the beginning it was about shame, he didn’t want to look like a coward because in truth he was scared. He was afraid to face the pressures of war, the humiliation and the fact of losing “everything”. This man was an average person who lived an average life with no problems, until he got the notice about the war, which caused the shame and fear of being seen as a bad person to come out.

In "Two Gallants," the sixth short story in the Dubliners collection, James Joyce is especially careful and crafty in his opening paragraph. Even the most cursory of readings exposes repetition, alliteration, and a clear structure within just these nine lines. The question remains, though, as to what the beginning of "Two Gallants" contributes to the meaning and impact of Joyce's work, both for the isolated story itself and for Dubliners as a whole. The construction, style, and word choice of this opening, in the context of the story and the collection, all point to one of Joyce's most prevalent implicit judgments: that the people of Ireland refuse to make any effort toward positive change for themselves.

It was now deep dusk in the forest, and deepest in that part of it where these two were journeying. As nearly as could be discerned, the second traveller was about fifty years old, apparently in the same rank of life as Goodman Brown, and bearing a considerable resemblance to him, though perhaps more in expression than features. Still, they might have been taken for father and son. And yet, though the elder person was as simply clad as the younger, and as simple in manner too, he had an indescribable air of one who knew the world, and would not have felt abashed at the governor's dinner-table, or in King William's court, were it possible that his affairs should call him thither. But the only thing about him, that could be fixed upon as remarkable, was his staff, which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought, that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent. This, of course, must have been an ocular deception, assisted by the uncertain light.

To war, or not to war, that is the question. In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien faces cultural, political, and social factors that end up leading him to forgo his plan to dodge the draft, and to report as instructed, a mere yards away from his destination of Canada (57). In Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony, Rocky and Tayo, two young Native American men, experience cultural, political, and social factors that draw them into the Army, fighting the Second World War for a country that considers them less than human. The stories of these characters are not unique, they are stories that are representative of the stories of young American men at the time, who faced cultural, political, and social factors during both conflicts. The purpose of this inquiry essay is to determine what those factors were, and why they lead these men to willingly engage in two of the deadliest conflicts in human history.

He was, in fact, an odd mixture of small shrewdness and simple credulity. His appetite for the marvellous, and his powers of digesting it, were equally extraordinary; and both had been increased by his residence in this spellbound region. No tale was too gross or monstrous for his capacious swallow. It was often his delight, after his school was dismissed in the afternoon, to stretch himself on the rich bed of clover, bordering the little brook that whimpered by his school-house, and there con over old Mather’s direful tales, until the gathering dusk of the evening made the printed page a mere mist before his eyes. Then, as he wended his way, by swamp and stream and awful woodland, to the farm-house where he happened to be quartered, every sound of nature, at that witching hour, fluttered his excited imagination: the moan of the whip-poor-will* from the hill-side; the boding

Tim O'Brien originally struggled to restore the certainty of his safety by attempting to cross the border in order to protect himself from participating in the war,but he chose . An example of his struggles

20) O’Brien tells how these young men were drafted which were constantly in fear, they wished to be there obliviously but war takes up all of one’s attention; it played a big role in their life, changing their tactics, personality and becoming a new person. O’Brien uses this to show the stressful moments in war where one has pressure to be alive and in this case to fit in with everyone else and feel part of something, in a lonely place such as the war.

In Tim O’Brien’s short story, On the Rainy River, O’Brien wrestles with ideas of social conformity in the midst of a national crisis while struggling to find who he is and his place in a polarized era. Written in the Vietnam War’s aftermath, O’Brien presents his struggles of defining himself as a young draftee while discerning who he is as an adult long after. O’Brien receives a draft notice and undergoes an identity crisis regarding what part he will play in the war, but runs to Canada on an impulse, arriving near the border. When he is about to cross, O’Brien betrays his conscience and returns to his hometown to answer his summons. Through the application of a historical lens, one can gather much about the divided attitudes on the positions on war and the reflection of these feelings as the polarization dies down in upon its publication.

The guest lecture given by Dahna Sanderson, was very informative because she expressed the effects of concussions, in very personal way. Dahna explained that Don Sanderson, her son was a victim of a concussion. This occurred because he was involved in a hockey fight which landed him into a hospital. Dahna clarified that it was not the actual fight that led to his death, but it is because of the concussion that Don received when his bear head hit the ice. Right after the impact with the ice, Don Sanderson immediately regained conscientious, but then later fell into a coma which lasted about three weeks. Dahna Sanderson, after three weeks of waiting for her son to wake up from his coma, she received “the worst possible news” as Dahna described.

After being released from the hospital, O’Brien reminisces about his relationships with the other soldiers in the war. He realizes how much he misses being in real danger when he was in Vietnam. O’Briens experience in the war caused him and the other soldiers to see the world more clearly and appreciate the people surrounding you more than in a normal situation. O’Brien states, “You make close friends. You become part of a tribe and you share the same blood-you give it together, you take it together” (O’Brien 183). O’Brien does not feel that the word friendship can accurately describe the relationship between the men. He feels more compassionate about his fellow soldiers then a friend would, therefore he considers the other soldiers as brothers. The soldiers’ brotherly love is expressed through their selflessness in shedding blood but also protecting each other by taking the enemies blood as well. The quotations proves the novel is a love story because O’Brien shares his love with the other soldiers by treating them like brothers and as part of a tribe. Hence, the novel represents a love story of a brotherhood because of the soldiers’ sacrifices and understanding of one another while in

Brushing a hand back through his own dark hair, Arthur gently picked up his tea and took a sip, allowing the man in front of him to seethe a few breaths. From a distance, one could liken in jest the arrangement as a giant from some fairy tale sitting across in dispute from some Fey prince. Truly Thomas’ carved features and lean figure would match the creatures of legends from the Old World, if not the striking hue of his eyes; a shade of blue as fluctuating as the states of water...gentle and serene, as piercing as ice, or clouded with strange distance..

"Guests of the Nation," a short story by Frank O'Connor takes place in 1921 during Ireland's fight for independence from British rule. Set in a small cottage in the countryside of Ireland, the story tells of two Englishmen who are prisoners and are being watched over by three Irishmen. The story tells of the relationship that develops between the captives and their captors and explores the conflict that arises when the soldiers are called to duty.