The Man Without a Country

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See also A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut.

The Man Without a Country was a short story published anonymously by Edward Everett Hale, in the Atlantic Monthly in 1863. Although the events of the novel were set in the early 1800s, the story was an allegory and implicitly referred to the upheaval of the American Civil War (especially in Ohio, with the expatriation of Clement Vallandigham). Hale, a fiercely patriotic man, intended to criticize those who had renounced the United States.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The protagonist of the story was a (fictional) young United States Army lieutenant named Philip Nolan, who struck up a friendship with the visiting Aaron Burr. When Burr was tried for treason (as he actually was in 1807), Nolan was tried as an accomplice. During his testimony, Nolan bitterly renounced his nation, angrily shouting "Damn The United States! I wish I may never hear of the United States again!" (when the novel was first published the word "damn" was considered too obscene for publication.) Upon conviction, the judge icily granted Nolan his wish: he was to spend the rest of his life on warships of the United States Navy, in exile, with no right to ever again set foot on U.S. soil, and with no mention ever again made to him about his country.

The sentence is carried out to the letter. None of those in whose custody Nolan remains will speak to him about the U.S., and his newspapers are censored. Nolan is unrepentant at first, but over the years becomes sadder and wiser, and desperate for news. One day he says to a young officer as they are being rowed back to the ship on which he is being held,

..."For your country, boy," and the words rattled in his throat, "and for that flag," and he pointed to the ship, "never dream a dream but of serving her as she bids you, though the service carry you through a thousand hells. No matter what happens to you, no matter who flatters you or abuses you, never look at another flag, never let a night pass but you pray God to bless that flag. Remember, boy, that behind all these men..., behind officers and government, and people even, there is the Country Herself, your Country, and that you belong to her as you belong to your own mother. Stand by her, boy, as you would stand by your mother...!" I was frightened to death by his calm, hard passion; but I blundered out that I would, by all that was holy, and that I had never thought of doing anything else. He hardly seemed to hear me; but he did, almost in a whisper, say, "Oh, if anybody had said so to me when I was your age!"

Deprived of a homeland, Nolan slowly and painfully learned the true worth of his country. He missed it more than his friends or family, more than art or music or love or nature. Without it, he was nothing. Dying, he shows his room to an officer; it is "a little shrine" of patriotism. The Stars and Stripes are draped around a picture of George Washington. Over his bed, Nolan had painted an eagle, with lightning "blazing from his beak" and his claw grasping the globe. At the foot of his bed was a dated map of the old territories. Nolan smiled. "Here, you see, I have a country!"

Nolan dies content after the officer finally tells him all that has happened to the U.S. since his sentence was imposed.

[edit] References

John R. Adams, Edward Everett Hale (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1977),
Melinda Lawson; "'A Profound National Devotion': The Civil War Union Leagues and the Construction of a New National Patriotism." Civil War History . Volume: 48. Issue: 4. : 2002. Pp 338+.