The Man Without a Country

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"The Man Without a Country" is a short story by American writer Edward Everett Hale, first published anonymously in the Atlantic Monthly in December 1863.^[1] The novel is the story of American army lieutenant Philip Nolan, who renounces his country during a trial for treason and is consequently sentenced to spend the rest of his days at sea without so much as a word of news about the United States. Although the story is set in the early 1800s, the story is an allegory about upheaval of the American Civil War and was intended to promote the Union cause.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Effectiveness as patriotic literature 3 Background 4 Adaptations 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Plot summary

The protagonist of the story is a young United States Army lieutenant named Philip Nolan, who develops a friendship with the visiting Aaron Burr. When Burr is tried for treason (historically this occurred in 1807), Nolan is tried as an accomplice. During his testimony, Nolan bitterly renounces his nation, angrily shouting "Damn the United States! I wish I may never hear of the United States again!" Upon conviction, the judge icily grants Nolan his wish: he is 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 explicit orders that no one shall ever mention his country to him again.

The sentence is carried out to the letter. For the rest of his life, Nolan is transported from ship to ship, living out his life as a prisoner on the high seas, never once being allowed back in a home port. None of the sailors in whose custody Nolan remains are allowed to 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 he is being rowed over to another ship on which he is to be held, he beseeches a young sailor never to make the same mistake he made, and to: "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...!"

Deprived of a homeland, Nolan slowly and painfully learns the true worth of his country. He misses it more than his friends or family, more than art or music or love or nature. Without it, he is nothing. Dying, he shows his room to an officer named Danforth; it is "a little shrine" of patriotism. The Stars and Stripes are draped around a picture of George Washington. Over his bed, Nolan has painted an eagle, with lightning "blazing from his beak" and claws grasping the globe. At the foot of his bed is a dated map of the old territories. Nolan smiles, "Here, you see, I have a country!" Nolan dies content after Danforth finally tells him all that has happened to the U.S. since his sentence was imposed. Nolan asks him to have them bury him in the sea and have a gravestone placed in memory of him, at Fort Adams or at Orleans.

[edit] Effectiveness as patriotic literature

As Hale intended, the short story created significant support for the US as a country, identifying the priority of the Union over the individual states, and thus pressuring readers to view Southern secession negatively. In so doing, he convinced many individuals to join, or at least support the North's effort to, as Abraham Lincoln put it, "preserve the Union."

In the story, Hale skillfully convinced many readers that Nolan was an actual figure, thus increasing the story's effectiveness as a piece of patriotic literature. He achieved this realism through verisimilitude, creating an "air" of reality. By frequently mentioning specific dates and places and using numerous contemporary references, Hale grounds his story in a firm foundation of history and makes his story seem like a record of actual events. Furthermore, Hale makes the narrator of the story, Frederick Ingham, seem a strongly reliable individual. Throughout the text, Ingham often acknowledges his mistakes and identifies possible lapses in his memory. For this reason, readers believe Ingham's sense of honesty, and automatically deem him a trustworthy and, to some extent, an accurate narrator. Finally, Hale utilizes a plain style, maintaining an unstilted and almost colloquial feel. Thus, he makes his story easy to relate to, and makes the patriotic morals of the story accessible to common people.

[edit] Background

Although "The Man Without a Country" is considered historical fiction, like many tales within the genre, it is based on historical events.^{[citation needed]} Phillip Nolan was an actual historical figure on whom the tale is loosely based. "The Nolan House" is an antebellum structure located in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, near the community of Pickneyville where Phillip Nolan once lived. There is also a Mississippi State Historical marker entitled "The Man Without a Country" at nearby Fort Adams where Nolan served in the U.S. Army under General James Wilkinson. Mention is also made of Nolan in the museum at the Historic Jefferson College State Historic site near Natchez in Adams County, where Aaron Burr and his co-conspirators were first brought to trial.

In 1863 the Democratic Congressman and Copperhead leader, Clement Vallandigham was arrested by Major General Ambrose Burnside, who was in charge of the Department of the Ohio, for making seditious speeches against the war. Lincoln was faced with a dilemma due to the fact that the Congressman was doing what Burnside said he was doing, but that Burnside's actions made the Congressman a possible political martyr. Vallandigham spent a number of months in Toronto, Canada West before sneaking back into the U.S. It is believed that this incident led Hale to write the story, and late in it Vallandigham is mentioned with several contemporary Confederates in the story.

This bit of American history was documented by Robert Ripley in his Believe it or Not comic strip some time after 1931 (Believe it or Not Omnibus) but before 1942 (Series 2 or Series 3). Ripley used existing documentation of the case—so it is possible that the US National Archive system may have been consulted in the process.

It is unclear whether this fictional story influenced the case of the officer.

[edit] Adaptations

The Man Without a Country has been adapted for film several times, starting in 1917 with The Man Without a Country starring Florence La Badie, and another Man Without a Country starring John Litel and Gloria Holden and released by Warner Brothers in 1937.

In 1973, a made-for-television movie titled The Man Without a Country was directed by Delbert Mann and written by Sidney Carroll. It featured Cliff Robertson as Philip Nolan, Beau Bridges as Frederick Ingham, Peter Strauss as Arthur Danforth, Robert Ryan as Lt. Cmdr. Vaughan, Walter Abel as Col. A.B. Morgan, Geoffrey Holder as one of the slaves on a slave ship, Shepperd Strudwick as the Secretary of the Navy, John Cullum as Aaron Burr and Patricia Elliott as Mrs. Graff.

There were other movies made in 1925 and another slated for distribution in 2008.

An opera of the story, also entitled The Man Without a Country, was composed by Walter Damrosch and premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 1937.

A four-part dramatization was recorded in June 1947 and issued by Decca on two coupled 12" 78 rpm discs. Bing Crosby provided the narration and Frank Lovejoy portrayed Philip Nolan.

[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+.

[edit] External links

• original 1863 magazine
• The Man Without a Country and Other Tales at Project Gutenberg
• Radio adaptation[1]