guests of the nation
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Just how far will someone go in the line of duty? Is fulfilling your duty worth taking the life of a friend? In a time of war, the only friends that you have are the people in the trenches beside you and everyone else is considered your enemy. In Frank O'Connor's story, Guests of the Nation, he describes the relationship of four Irish Republican Army soldiers who are holding two Englishmen prisoners and the friendship that they develop with their prisoners while waiting for orders. Frank O'Connor was the pen name for Michael O'Donovan. He also lived in Ireland during the time of the civil wars and was a member of the Irish Republican Army. What happens when you make friends with your enemy? This is the basis for O'Connor's story, and he tells of how his characters were forced to choose between their duty as soldiers of their country and the friendship that they had made with these prisoners that they were guarding. In the end, these soldiers were forced to choose between their duty as soldiers and their friends; and duty won. In a time of war, a soldier's duty comes before everything else and a soldier could face the horrible task of killing his friends because he is ordered to do so...