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?
If I was witness to my friend's death and couldn't do anything about it I would be overwhelmed with guilt. Being a true friend means standing by and helping them through difficult times; however, if unable to save their life I failed in my duty as a friend. My guilt would then lead to depression, stemming from my feelings of hopelessness. I hope to never be in a situation where these emotions might become reality.
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