Abstract

Witnessing the tragic conditions of both Irish and English people brought by the War of Independence, Frank O’Connor (1903-1966) greatly sympathized the men in the war and was not content with politics, capitalism and religion at that time. “Guests of the Nation”, by which the Irish writer Frank O’ Connor as one of the representative writers of critical realism came to fame, tells us a tragic story between so-called friendly foes during the Irish War of Independence. Since its first publication in 1931, “Guests of the Nation” became popular because of the topic about the men in the war. While overlooking O’ Connor’s religion view, an underlying factor which influences a lot on the portray of the main characters of the story, this paper tries to elaborate the three types of characters in “Guests of the Nation” so as to get a clear view of O’ Connor’s religious ideas. 

O’ Connor molds six lifelike and vivid personages from two camps, labeled “the English” and “the Irish” during the Irish Independent War. They are standing out in the work with different religious ideas. Among them, Donovan, the Irish officer, is a Catholic. However, his tough-mindedness makes people question his religious identity; Belcher and Hawkins, two English hostages, are thorough non-believers; Bonaparte, Noble and the Old Woman are devout Catholics. People from two hostile camps get along well with each other. Nevertheless, the agreement cannot keep up because of the merciless war. In the end, the Irish soldiers are compelled to obey the order and kill the two English hostages although they have already been his friends. By describing the fact that religious beliefs cannot change the actuality of the war, O’ Connor raises doubts about the religion as a critical non-believer. This paper attempts to discuss O’ Connor’s view on religion according to the characterization in his “Guests of the Nation”, and in the meanwhile, to promote people’s reflection on war and the destruction it brings to human nature.

Keywords: Frank O'Connor; “Guests of the Nation”; characterization; religious view; war

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

1.1-Brief Introduction of Frank O'Connor and His Works-1

1.2 Literature Review-1

1.3 Significance of This Study-4

1.4 Structure of the Paper-4

2. Religious Ideas Embodied in the Characterization in “Guests of the Nation”-5

2.1 Jeremiah Donovan: A Hard-hearted Catholic-5

2.1.1 Jeremiah Donovan as a Cold-blooded Catholic-5

2.1.2 Jeremiah Donovan as a Hypocritical Catholic-5

2.2 Belcher and Hawkins: Non-believers-6

2.2.1 Belcher as a Holy Non-believer-7

2.2.2 Hawkins as an Affectionate Non-believer-7

2.3 Bonaparte, Noble and the Old Woman: Impotent Catholics-8

2.3.1 Bonaparte, Noble and the Old Woman as Devout Catholics-8

2.3.2 Bonaparte, Noble and the Old Woman as Impotent Catholics-9

3. Frank O'Connor：a Critical Non- believer-11

3.1 Formation of Frank O'Connor’s View on Religion-11

3.2 Frank O'Connor’s Criticism of Religion-11

4. Conclusion-12

References-13