sadder and wiser

The Man Without a Country

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, and to thus foster patriotism for the Northern cause.

Plot summary

The protagonist of the story is a (fictional) young United States Army lieutenant named Philip Nolan, who developed a friendship with the visiting Aaron Burr. When Burr is 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. For the rest of his life, Nolan is transported from ship to ship, living his life out 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,

..."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 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 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 Danforth finally tells him all that has happened to the U.S. since his sentence was imposed.

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.

Similar events in US history

Although "The Man Without a Country" is considered historical fiction, like many tales within the genre, it is based on real facts. Phillip Nolan was an actual historical figure about whom the tale "The Man Without a Country" was 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 him 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.

Sometime in the late US Civil War a Northern (?) military officer (it is unclear North or South) uttered that he did not want to see America again. Someone in the military chain of command below President Lincoln (possibly with the involvement of the President, it is unclear) sentenced him to permanent exile on US merchant marine ships. The officer died in a ship's gaol in Goa in the 1880s.

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.

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. 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 1937 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.

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+.