Guest of the Nation, Dulce Et Decorum Est The comparison

The story Guest of the Nation by Frank O'Connor and the poem Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen both show loss and brotherhood throughout their stories. In both of these stories there are multiple scenarios that show that fighting for your country is more important then friends.

Guest of the Nation is about two Irish soldiers watching two captured English soldiers, they start getting used to each other and they become friends. In the end of the story the Irish has to kill the English soldiers because on the other side of the war the English had Irish soldiers and the English kill the hostages, so now the Irish soldiers had to kill their friends not by choice but for their country.  In the story Guest of the Nation O'Connor writes on page 5, lines 24-25,

"Noble, just as if he couldn't bear any more of it, raised his fist at Donovan, and in a flash Donovan raised his gun and fired. The big man went over like a sack of meal, and this time there was no need for a second shot."

This quote shows that they killed their supposed friend because that was right for their country. In Dulce Et Decorum Est there is a war going on. During the war the enemy throws poison gas at the soldiers and the soldiers only had a limited amount of time to put on their gas mask before they would die. One of the soldiers did not put the mask on in time so he suffered terribly when his friends and fellow soldiers had to watch him.In Dulce Et Decorum Est also shows loss of a friend by saying on lines 14-16,

"As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all of my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, chocking drowning."

This quote shows that the soldiers could not help their friend because he was already poisoned by the gas because he did not put his gas mask on in time. They had to watch their friend die right in front of them and they couldn't do anything to help him. What you you do if you had to watch your friend die right in front of your eyes suffering and you could not safe them?

 

 

Afghanistan War Conflict

In 2001 America went to war with Afghanistan. When Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, and Mohammed Omar and the rest of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda were in collusion to hijack airplanes and attack the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and attempted to attack the White House. It says in the article Afghanistan War on lines 1-2,

 " international conflict in Afghanistan beginning in 2001 that was triggered by the September 11 attacks..."

This quote shows that the war was started by the 9/11 attacks.  After these actions America was shocked and confused. America lost many lives from these terrorist attacks and President George W Bush, the president at that time realized that these terrorist actions were made by the Taliban and decided to send our troops to Afghanistan, to find the leaders who caused the atrocities in America. America captured Saddam Hussein on December 13,2003, and turned him in to the Afghanistan military, where he would later get hanged because of his past crimes against humanity. American Navy Seals killed Osama Bin Laden on May 2, 2011. President Obama got hints that Osama was in Pakistan and the Navy Seals went in a carried out the mission to kill Osama Bin Laden.

There was a feeling that America had to fight back when terrorists killed thousands of civilians in the terrorist attack known as 9/11. America did not want to look weak and did not want to get picked on, America also lost a big factor in their economic power house, the world trade center. They also tried to kill President Bush but the passengers on the plane heading to the white house stopped them from attacking it. The war topic that is easily shown is loss all throughout this war. Many lives were lost and also the world trade center was lost in this atrocious incident, on top of all of the buildings in Afghanistan that were destroyed during the war.America ended up looking more like the victor in this war, even though no country wins in a war because many lives were lost on both sides.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Afghanistan-War