Guests of the Nation | Themes
Duty and Personal Responsibility
The main theme in this story is duty. Each character has a duty to perform. Donovan is the first one to discuss his duty as the rebels are leading the prisoners into the bog. He tells them that four Irish fellows had been shot and ‘‘you are to be shot as a reprisal.’’ Continuing, he ‘‘begins the usual rigmarole about duty and how unpleasant it is.’’ As he shows here, his perception of duty is built on submission to the orders of someone higher up in the chain of command. His interpretation of duty absolves him of...
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