The Naked and the Dead (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Norman Mailer
- First Published: 1948
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: World War II
- Setting: Anopopei, an island in the South Pacific
- Principal Characters: General Cummings, Major Dalleson, Lieutenant Robert Hearn, Sergeant Samuel Croft, Sergeant Brown, Roth, Goldstein, Red Valsen, Julio Martinez, Roy Gallagher, Woodrow Wilson, Ossie Ridges, Stanley, Casimir “Polack” Czienwicz, Minetta, Toglio, Wyman, Hennessey
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: Class conflict, Leadership, World War II, Soldiers, Pacific Ocean
- Locales: Islands, South Pacific, Anopopei (fictive)
The Story:
In the campaign against the Japanese during World War II, United States Army troops commanded by General Cummings landed on the beach of Anopopei, an 150-mile-long South Pacific island held by the Japanese army. The platoon of Sergeant Samuel Croft was assigned to conduct reconnaissance on the beach. Croft’s men considered themselves lucky because this duty would keep them busy for a week or so while other troops went on the more dangerous patrols into the interior of the island. Red Valsen, however, resented any duties because of his disdain for authority. Croft...
[The entire page is 2068 words long]
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