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enough food to stay alive from day to day and avoiding disease or injury, since almost no medical care is available. Some are degraded and come close to losing their humanity, while others display levels of courage and compassion beyond expectations. Some steal food out the mouths of their comrades, while others give away what they have or take terrible risks to help their friends.
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business partnership with King because "Marlowes aren't tradesmen. It just isn't done, old boy". Marlowe soon understands that King is not the thief and con artist that Grey would have him believe. Rather, King asks for the best of each man and rewards him accordingly, irrespective of class or position.
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in Malay), not knowing they are actually eating rat meat. When the camp is ultimately liberated, most of the soldiers have trouble adjusting to freedom. King loses his power and is shunned by the others. Grey ironically thanks King on the grounds that his hatred of King was the only thing keeping him
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prisoners alive. Senior officers come to him for help in selling their valuables to buy food, and other officers are secretly on his payroll. Marlowe is initially put off by King's perspective and behaviour, which clash with the
British upper class ideals he has been taught. He turns down a lucrative
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in the early 1960s, when
Marlowe is a writer visiting Hong Kong to conduct research about the great British trading companies there. Grey, embittered by his failure to obtain a commission in the postwar British Army despite his suffering during the war, has become a radical socialist Member of UK
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other than filthy huts to live in and the bare minimum of food. Officers from various parts of
Britain's Asian empire, accustomed to having native servants provide them with freshly laundered uniforms daily, are reduced to wearing rags and homemade shoes. For most, the chief concern is obtaining
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Through the experiences of
Marlowe, King, and other characters, the novel offers a vivid, often disturbing portrayal of men brought to the edge of survival by a brutal environment. The P.O.W.s are given nothing by the
348:-like obsession with King and hopes to arrest him for violating camp regulations. Grey is attempting to maintain military discipline among the prisoners and sees King as the antithesis of his beliefs. As the son of a
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Parliament and is also in Hong Kong on an official visit. Unknown to
Marlowe, Grey has become a secret Communist and a Soviet agent who tries to thwart efforts to improve relations between China and the West.
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alive. At the end the rats are abandoned in their cages when the camp is abandoned. The final scene has the rats consuming each other one by one, with the final survivor becoming "king of the rats".
424:â a shrewd American corporal; at the end of the novel he is sent back to the United States under an impending investigation for illegal profiteering in a prison camp and Marlowe never sees him again
442:- British Colonel named Camp Commander, responsible to the Japanese for the P.O.W.s; later appears as a director of Struan's Holdings, MP, in Clavell's subsequent novel
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guards, local Malay villagers, and other prisoners for food, clothing, information, and what few luxuries are available, King keeps himself and his fellow
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since 1942. Marlowe comes to the attention of the "King" - an
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camp, where the novel is set. One of the three major characters, Peter
Marlowe, is based upon Clavell.
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to sell for food. His comrades, though nearly starving themselves, are repelled by the idea of eating
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and undistinguished in civilian life, King has become a major power in the closed society of the
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This article is about the 1962 James
Clavell novel. For the 1998 China Miéville novel, see
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was released in 1965, the first of several of
Clavell's novels to be so adapted.
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deals, which bring
Marlowe to the attention of Robin Grey, a British officer and
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family, Grey follows the rules for their own sake, using his position as
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was the first book published of Clavell's sweeping series, the
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The novel opens in early 1945. Peter Marlowe, a young British
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through his charisma and intelligence. Trading with
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356:to gain a status otherwise unavailable to him in
279:in a Japanese camp in Singapore. Clavell was a
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515:"Adaptation of Novel by Clavell Has Premiere"
392:King decides he and his friends should breed
332:in Changi - when King sees him conversing in
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271:and the author's literary debut. Set during
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113:Learn how and when to remove this message
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492:, fictional Australian POWs at Changi
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51:adding citations to reliable sources
242:(in chronology of Asian Saga)
946:American novels adapted into films
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931:British novels adapted into films
460:(published 1981), a novel set in
344:of the camp, who has developed a
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976:Little, Brown and Company books
38:needs additional citations for
926:Novels set during World War II
221:Print (hardback and paperback)
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966:Japan in non-Japanese culture
951:Novels about prisoners of war
62:"King Rat" Clavell novel
127:1962 novel by James Clavell
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188:Little, Brown and Company
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18:King Rat (Miéville novel)
956:Books about imprisonment
816:The Sweet and the Bitter
517:. Movies & TV Dept.
941:Novels set in Singapore
936:Novels set in the 1940s
708:James Clavell's ShÅgun
971:Michael Joseph books
906:1962 American novels
773:The Children's Story
450:Two characters from
440:Percy Smedley-Taylor
47:improve this article
916:Fiction set in 1945
911:1962 British novels
716:ShÅgun: The Musical
267:is a 1962 novel by
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800:Walk Like a Dragon
792:Five Gates to Hell
711:(video game, 1989)
703:(miniseries, 1988)
687:(miniseries, 1980)
527:on 23 January 2009
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45:Please help
40:verification
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700:Noble House
668:Adaptations
641:Noble House
457:Noble House
306:Noble House
253:Noble House
900:Categories
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497:References
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406:rusa tikus
402:mouse deer
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170:Asian Saga
103:April 2022
73:newspapers
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184:Publisher
131:King Rat
676:King Rat
617:King Rat
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531:27 April
513:(2009).
481:See also
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422:The King
415:King Rat
398:rat meat
386:Japanese
377:American
369:POW camp
309:(1981).
301:King Rat
291:King Rat
281:prisoner
264:King Rat
158:Language
851:The Fly
692:Tai-Pan
657:Gai-Jin
625:Tai-Pan
283:in the
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161:English
87:scholar
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633:ShÅgun
628:(1966)
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326:P.O.W.
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