King Rat (1962 novel)

infobox Book |
name = King Rat
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Cover of the 1st Edition hardback
author = James Clavell
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series = Asian Saga
genre = Historical novel
publisher = Little, Brown and Company (USA) and Martin Joseph (UK)
release_date = 1962
media_type = Print (Hardback and Paperback)
pages =
isbn = NA
preceded_by = Gai-Jin
followed_by = Noble House

"King Rat" is a 1962 novel by James Clavell. Set during World War II, Clavell's literary debut describes the struggle for survival of British, Australian and American prisoners of war in a Japanese camp in Singapore — a description informed by Clavell's own three-year experience as a prisoner in the notorious Changi Prison camp. One of the major characters, Peter Marlowe, is based upon Clavell's younger self.

Despite its fearsome reputation, Changi was historically among the better-run Japanese camps, with only 850 deaths among the 87,000 prisoners who passed through [cite journal | journal = Journal of the Australian War Memorial | author = Kevin Blackburn | date = 2000 | issue = 33 | url = http://www.awm.gov.au/journal/j33/blackburn.htm | title = Commemorating and commodifying the prisoner of war experience in south-east Asia: The creation of Changi Prison Museum | accessdate = 2007-01-26] .

"King Rat" retroactively became the first book published of Clavell's sweeping series, the Asian Saga, and the fourth chronologically. Several main characters from "King Rat" appear again in Noble House.

Plot summary

The novel opens in early 1945. Peter Marlowe, a young British Flight Lieutenant, has been a P.O.W. since 1942. Marlowe comes to the attention of the "King," an American corporal who has become the most successful trader and black marketeer in Changi, when the King sees him conversing in Malay. Marlowe's language skill, intelligence, honesty and winning personality cause the King to befriend him and attempt to involve him in black market deals. This, in turn, brings Marlowe to the attention of Robin Grey, a British officer and Provost Marshal of the camp, who has developed a Javert-like obsession with the King and hopes to arrest him for violating camp regulations. Grey is attempting to maintain strict military discipline among the prisoners and sees the King as the antithesis of everything he believes.

Despite being only an enlisted man and without distinction in civilian life, the King has become a major power in the enclosed society of the P.O.W. camp through his charisma and intelligence. Trading with Korean guards, local Malay villagers and other prisoners for food, clothing, information and what few luxuries are available, the King keeps himself and his fellow American prisoners alive. Even senior officers come to him for help in selling their valuables to buy extra food, and other officers are secretly on his payroll.

Grey, the son of a working class family, is a legal positivist, following the rules for their own sake, and using his position as Provost Marshal to gain a status otherwise unavailable to him in British society.

Marlowe is initially put off by the King's perspective and behavior, which are at odds with the British upper-class ideals he has been taught. He turns down a lucrative business partnership with the King because "Marlowes aren't tradesmen. It just isn't done, old boy." But Marlowe soon understands that the King is not the thief and con artist that Grey would have him believe. Rather, the King asks for the best of each man and rewards him accordingly, irrespective of class or position.

Through the experiences of Marlowe, the 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 Japanese other than filthy huts to live in and the bare minimum of food needed to prevent starvation. 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 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 courage and compassion beyond anything one would expect. Some literally steal food out the mouths of their comrades, while others give away what they have or take terrible risks to help their friends. Both the best and the worst of human nature are shown in scenes the reader will find it difficult to forget.

Some of the characters from King Rat also appear in Noble House, a novel set in Hong Kong in the early 1960's, when Marlowe is a writer visiting Hong Kong to do research on 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 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.

Characters in "King Rat"

*The King – an American corporal; at the end of the novel he is sent back to the United States and is never seen again by Marlowe
*Peter Marlowe – the main protagonist, a young British fighter pilot who later becomes an author; based on James Clavell
*Robin Grey – an older British officer, after the war he becomes a member of Parliament and a Russian agent

Main themes

The novel can be understood as an examination of the ethics of individualism and natural law in opposition to collectivism and legal positivism. In this sense the novel takes on a certain amount of political significance in that it establishes two forms of political ideology that Clavell would explore in his entire Asian Saga series. The King relies on free trade to survive, in which he reaps the most reward, although he does help all the men who are associated with him. On the other hand, the system Grey attempts to enforce is one of Socialistic equality in that every man would only get an equal share what was rationed by their captors, regardless of individual merit..

In recent years, some critics have compared the philosophy and character of the King to that of Ayn Rand's Howard Roark from The Fountainhead. Clavell himself lent credence to this claim by sending Ayn Rand a copy of Noble House in 1981 with the following inscription - "This is for Ayn Rand – one of the real, true talents on this earth for which many, many thanks. James C, New York, 2 Sept 81."

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

A film adaptation was released in 1965, the first of several of Clavell's novels to be so adapted. The character of the King was altered to Clavell's dismay, to make him more "understandable" to an American audience.

References

External links

*King Rat ISBN 0-440-14546-5