King Rat Analysis

The author James Clavell, born Charles Edmund Dum arsq Clavell was a British novelist, screenwriter, director and World War II veteran and prisoner of war. Many of his novels were converted to movies, most famous of them universe The Great Escape with Steve McQueen. In WW II he was wounded by machine-gun fire, he was eventually captured and send to a Japanese prisoner-of-war bivouacking on Java. Later he was transferred to Changi Prison in Singapore. He suffered greatly at the hands of his Japanese captors. Changi was notorious for its poor living conditions. Clavell was reportedly saved, along with an entire battalion, by an American prisoner.The novel This is captured in the novel King Rat from 1962. The novel opens in early 1945. puppet Marlowe, a young British Flight Lieu goant, has been a P. O. W. since 1942. He describes horrible conditions in Changi. The P. O. W. s are affordn nothing by the Japanese other than filthy huts to live in and the bare stripped of food needed to prevent starvation. Officers from various split of Britains Asian empire are reduced to wear rags and homemade shoes. Biggest concern is obtaining nice food to stay alive from day to day and avoiding disease or injury, since almost no medical care is available.Some literally steal food out the mouths of their comrades, while others give a itinerary what they have or take terrible risks to help their friends. Then Marlowe meets with King, an american material who became infamous throughout the camp as the most successful trader and black marketeer in Changi. really he was the only one who lived like a human creation with clean clothes and enough food for more than 5 men. They become close friends, later Marlowe helps King with his trades. Marlowe being a frank idealist then sees how the world really works, he changes his points of view what makes his bond with King even stronger.The bind ends with liberation of the camp by British forces. King leaves to America and is nev er seen by Marlove again. The book features many another(prenominal) different characters, from different countries and their struggle for survival. Some live of the others, close to take great risks to help the others, biggest of them being a construction of a riado to get news about the progress of war, what later Marlowe with 2 of his friends do too. Novel realisticaly shows the life in a prison camp, men? s problems with food, deseases, japanese guards, weather, their personalities, concerns bout their families or how the war will end. Analylis of the book King Rat why is the book called King Rat? unmatchable of the main character? s last name and also nickname is King and the rat believably because they literaly lived like rats while they were in Changi. So he was the King of the rats. Or, Later in the book they jump out a rat farm to get magnetic core and sell it and the first rat they caught was the biggest and the strongest of all so the title can be based on the simi larity of King with this rat. The novel consists of 4 parts called Book One, Book two, Book Three, and Book Four.Each book deals with a little different time and close describe different characters. They go chronologically where Book One is the beginning of the story early in year 1945 and Book Four shows King? s and Marlowe? s last and biggest deal and moves to their departure from the camp in the end. It has 26 chapters simply named Chapter + a number. Reason for this is that there is so much going on in each chapter that it would be very difficult to name the chapters and the names would be very misleading. It has 383 pages. thither is no pattern to this, no resemblance to years of his birth or anything.He just finished on his page and so it has 383 pages. The book itself is great, the way it? s written is very exceptional and catchy and the way the writter puts so many ideas and situations together is simly ingenious. But in the end many things are left unexplained like fake pro motion of an MP officer or fates of different characters. It is full of reported speech. Practicly the social unit book is one reported speech with few introductions giving the gist of the situation and environment, because it? s the take up way to show the minds of so many characters, their feelings, thoughtsThe part I chose shows King? s birthday, when he invited his unappealing friends to a prison building to cook some real food. He acquired some real meat a dog that had to be put down the day before because it killed a chicken and some sake.Stylistic devices Stunned silence epitet Two hundred yards why is it used? Author used yards to show the exceed and the member was very common in those times MP abbreviation (Military police) Why is it used? Abbreviations are very common in ilitary talk, soldiers use them all the time, so it gives us a disclose image of how they think and talk. It drags us more into the story. Stench repetition Why is it used? Stench is a very str ong and rude word and the author used it to show us exactly how magnanimous it smelled Cell 54 Why is it used? It was used because it? s a real story so it really happened in cell 54 Seven feet wide and eight feed long and ten feet high three feet high and three feet wide and six feet long nine feet up Why is it used? Author tries to give us an image of how the cell looked like, and also uses repetition of the word eet as it is the most common unit of lenght in the world Cobber australian rag importee mate or friend Why is it used? It is used because the character is Australian Ay, laddie scottish slang, laddie meaning boy Why is it used? It is used because the character is Scottish For Chris sake accent mark You mean to differentiate you got us in here just for that? Why the hell couldn? t we have done it in our billet? rethorical question character asks a question and doesn? t expect an answer Rajah Indian word for King Mother of god wildness Sudden stunned silence alliteration blast american slang for DollarMahlu in Malyan meaning ashamed, very often used in the book with the word Puki very rude name for female genitals Bloody slang, swearing What is it? question Sake emphasis It? s real, real real repetition Long story ephasis I? ll be goddamned emphasis Chrissake slang Like an Indian smoke signal comparison You? re no chicken, you know emphasis, lilotes, exaggeration Blast you slang, emphasis Oh, Jesus emphasis Boil, boil, boil and bubble repetition, alliteration It? s Double, double task and trouble Fire burn, and cauldron bubble quoting, allusionBetcha slang USC abbreviaton for University of Southern California The world? d hang on metonymy That? s crap, said the King at about Rockefeller? And Morgan and Ford and du Point? And all the others? It? s their philantropy that finances a helluva lot of research and libraries and hospitals and ard. Why without their dough- hypophora character asks a question but immed iately answers it Bloodsuckers slang I suppose you? re a Democrat? rethorical question character asks a question and doesn? t expect an answer Republicans metonymy Crapdoodle slang This guy? s from Christmas metaphor