Plot of Guest of the Nation
             "Guest of the Nation" is a wonderful short story that was written by Frank O' Connor. In the short story, "Guests of the Nation", the plot's well written structure is what makes this literary piece enjoyable and pleasing to read. A plot is a unified structure of incidents in a literary work. "Guests of the Nation's" plot up is made up of 4 stages, the exposition, intensification/ complication, the climax, and the denouement/ resolution. Each stage is vitally important in creating a balanced and interesting storyline, just as O' Connors story displays.
             In the first stage of the plot, known as the exposition, O' Connor gives the reader a good feel for each character's personality. There are the prisoners, Belcher and Hawkins, both captured from war of the Second Battalion. The cranky old woman was introduced and seemed to grab Belcher's attention because she was the only one he'd interact with regularly besides Hawkins. "It was a treat to see how Belcher got off with the old woman of the house where we were staying. Belcher had made her his friend for life"(O' Connor 46). The two men were held in a tavern where they would sit down and play cards with the Narrator and Noble, two young soldiers who were assigned to watch Hawkins and Belcher. O' Connor describes Belcher as being very quiet and somewhat mellow, where as Hawkins was abrupt, loud, and rude. Jeremiah Donavon is another soldier who comes to the tavern just to observe the card playing of the four other men. The intensification of the story began when talk about killing Hawkins and Belcher had occurred because Noble and the others heard about rumors of some of they're own soldiers being held captive and killed. The complication stage dealt with the Narrator, Noble, and
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