Guests of the Nation,’’ O’Connor
... the same about again.’’ In ‘‘Guests of the Nation,’’ O’Connor looks at the consequences when people in stressful situations choose duty over personal morality. J. R. Crider calls that ‘‘the tragic dilemma in which [the] characters are caught, between military duty and . . . ancient . . . moral law.’’ The Irish rebels are caught in this dilemma—they are forced to choose whether or not to carry out the execution of their English prisoners. Donovan ‘‘deliberately closes himself off from the human ties’’ which might weaken his resolve to follow orders from his superiors. Therefore he maintains his distance from the... The conflict with in the short story is an internal conflict. The Irishmen are forced to forget about all humanity when dealing with the enemy during combat. This was extremely hard for the guard...