English Literature

Bonaparte is the narrator of the story and as such, not much is mentioned of his physical appearance except that he is five foot ten. He is an Irishman but isnt portrayed as having much of an accent. In fact, he even makes fun of Donovans accent saying that he himself was from the town. He also has a habit of being rather overly formal in speech, rustic and proper at the same time. As the narrator, he doesnt mention any of his own mannerisms, although he does take careful note of those of the people around him.

Noble is often referred to as young Noble throughout the text, and once as the poor boy, suggesting that he is younger than the narrator Bonaparte. Other than this though, and that he wears gaiters, nothing else is said of his appearance. He says rather little except for when he is hotly arguing with Awkins. He seems quite morose for most of that story, but considering the events thats not too surprising. He does defend his beliefs with rigor though, although not too eloquently nor persuasively.

Awkins can be seen as a rather small man as the little Englishman is how Bonaparte first refers to him Though this might just be relative to Bonaparte and the big Belcher, or he might just be scrawny as he is described as having lean legs. He and Belcher are British soldiers and are described as wearing khaki tunics and overcoats with civilian pants and bright farmers boots. He is quite a passionately talkative character, with a rather thick cockney accent. He can be rather unpleasant in the way he talks, and he swears a lot, but there doesnt seem to be much real malice behind his words.

Belcher, the big Englishman, is definitely much larger than Bonapartes 5 foot ten. He has a mustache, wears the same clothes as Awkins, and is said to have a queer smile and a very rare and queerer laugh. He only says a few words and uses words like chum, but his accent doesnt seem as thick as his comrades. He sits by the fire most of the time as he is said to have his toes in the ashes, and he loves to play cards, which he is rather good at. Hes also very much the image of a gentle giant when he helps the old lady around the house and when he acts so calmly and good-naturedly in the end.

The narrator doesnt give a name to the old woman the four men live with. She is described as old and crabby, with a little crabs mouth. She is said to scold much and is crotchety, although no real examples are shown in the text. In the one time she answered Awkins though, her answers were not so much cranky as downright strange, almost nonsensical. Shes just an old, hardworking, Catholic Irishwoman and Belcher and even Awkins had endeared themselves to her.

Jeremiah Donovan is a small, shy, Irishman with a broad accent. He is described as wearing a small cloth hat, with big gaiters over his long pants, with hands always in his pants pockets. In most of the conversations in the text he is always rather unsure of himself, almost insecure. He does, however, have a determined and somewhat blind sense of duty as an Irishman and he disliked the two Englishmen.

Comparison with Mother Savage
Guests of the Nation at first glance has quite a lot in common with Mother Savage, for starters, they are both set in a remote village during wartime. The former though, is set in Ireland during a war between the English and the Irish, while the latter is set in Virelogne during the French-Prussian War. The basic organizations of the main characters are even extremely similar, four men living with an old lady due to the war. The four men in Mother Savage though, were forced upon her by the invading troops while in Guests, two of the men were prisoners and the other two served as their guards. Belcher even helps the old lady around the house just the way the four Prussian men did for Mother Savage. In Mother Savage though, the story was mainly focused on her, and her four charges were given neither names nor individual personalities, they were mainly a single entity for the duration of the story. Also, Guests is narrated by a major character so his thoughts and feelings are open to the reader as the story progresses. In Mother Savage, while it is still told in the first-person, the narrator is far-removed from the main story what Mother Savage is thinking and feeling, the reader can only guess at. Lastly, both stories end the same way, with the guest soldiers deaths, but the reaction of the main characters of one story is the total opposite of that of the other. In Mother Savage, she is triumphant, proud of killing the four soldiers though she did this rather sneakily and the men suffered before their ends. In Guests of the Nation, it is not the old lady that kills them, but another character and the other two guests of the house had a reluctant hand in it. The deaths of the soldiers were not treated as a triumph, but a tragedy.