By Marcus Han 3O310Aloysius Leow 3O315Edgar Leung 3O316

Arthur Chionh 3O308Pg 209 - 245

ThemesCharacterization

LanguageSymbols

MACRO

micro

SingaporeNational Servicemen

Charlie

Singapore Alone

“People thought Indonesia would eat us up. We were standing alone before we were ready.” [Pg 231]

Independent – “That was the time we stood alone. We didn’t plan it…after independence…thought we would die.” [Pg 230]

International Alliances and

Assistance“And then they came to

help us.” [Pg 231]

Crucial international relations – “If I had to guess…but they were here too…if they hadn’t come our army wouldn’t have progressed in time…wouldn’t have been even half ready for the British to pull out.”

Singapore Alone

International Alliances and

AssistanceInternational Relations

– Israeli Embassy [Pg 218]

“…all the Israelis I met were fighters…father had worked alongside them from the day they first arrived…celebrated their victory as if it was his own” [Pg 220]

Solo Survival

“We each might as well have been alone in that jungle, I tell you boys. Alone.” [Pg 214]

Night trekking – “I could hardly make out my own arm…(lost comrades to the darkness)…in its discipline and silence” [Pg 210-211]

Fighting as a Company

Fighting together – “My father opened fire…and his men pursued the enemy” [Pg 217]

“Sense of Isolation” [Pg 239]

“The isolation between what I did and what it was meant to be for” [Pg 239]

Charlie caught between two hostile parties – “You friend me, you can’t friend him.” [Pg 233] (Conflict between Ezra and Gang especially Eddie)

Working as a Team

Charlie & Co. are soccer enthusiasts [Pg 224], a sport that requires teamwork (various positions e.g. goalkeeper, centre-forward) are specifically mentioned, suggesting interdependence and team spirit

Unison in Decision – “we should do our best to accommodate him and give him a second chance” [Pg 236]

“Sense of Isolation” [Pg 239]

For the sake of hospitality – “Only Ranjeet and me were at the airport. Ali had flatly refused and the others said they were busy. We didn’t press them.” [Pg 242]

Working as a Team

Bidding a team member farewell – “I was at the airport with all the gang except Ezra” [Pg 241]

Influence is important – “Maybe because my father then had his share of influence…Eddie Suharto’s millionaire father” [Pg 223]

Influence can be cultivated – “All parents inspire certain taboos in their children. Mine, just more.” [Pg 210]

Influence commands obedience – Charlie’s father’s influence over Charlie made him preserve the ties he had with Israelites in the form of fellow warriors and Ezra respectively

Influence is lasting – Charlie bothered to go to Ezra’s departure from Singapore even in his father’s absence (without his father forcing him or making him obliged to go) and actually represented his father with Colonel Liau and people from the Embassy that were in charge of Ezra’s family’s hospitality in Singapore [Pg 242]

Charlie’s FriendsTek Seng /

“Brains”BalaRanjeetAliEddie SuhartoCher Piow

Protagonist(s) Charlie

(Persona)Ezra Charlie’s Family

MotherFather

Charlie’s Father’s FriendsColonel KirpalColonel Liau

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a. Obedient “moment our father came home, however, we’d stop” [Pg 210]

b. Curious Pestered Colonel Kirpal for more war stories, “our reply…chorus of the eager and curious” [Pg 213-215]

c. Sensitive Kept his thoughts to himself so as to prevent himself from provoking anyone [Pg 222]; Sensed feelings of hostility revolving around him between Eddie and Ezra [Pg 233]

a. Mid-fielder [Pg 235]

Fathera. Influential Commanded discipline

and silence in the house and its occupants without being tyrannical [Pg 210]

b. Disciplined Veteran Experienced the Confrontation and had strict training, “learnt it the much harder way”, for survival [Pg 212]

c. Organized Had an album of all his acquaintances and their faces [Pg 219]

Fathera. Diplomatic “asked Colonel Kirpal

to talk to me…just wanted me to make friends with Ezra and make sure everything was patched up” [Pg 232]

Mothera. Silent, Conformist She never

directly questioned anything Charlie’s father did [Pg 209]

b. Disciplined “made only a token appearance at the start, welcome them…”, “attend with the rest of the wives” [Pg 218]

Elder Brother, Mike

Ezraa. Features Contrasting to Israeli war

veterans (like his own father), “round, red ball of patchy, pale skin…” [Pg 220]

b. Proud of origins “…told us about the wonders of Jewish food” [Pg 225]

c. Weird Asked Brains a weird question to challenge his intellect [Pg 226]

d. Stubborn Refused to apologize and admit his wrongdoing, even feeling proud about it [Pg 232]

Ezra (Cont.)a. Spoilt Wanted things his way,

“he would make the choice”, disregarding convention [Pg 228]; “insisted on getting involved in everything as if he were our star player, instead of the worst…” [Pg 228]

b. Rash Attacked Eddie without considering the consequences [Pg 229]

Ranjeet a.k.a Cormoranta. Animated “Tall, skinny and

talkative…hands always dancing about…arms flapping” [Pg 212]; “…squacking, never quiet voice…flapping bird-like limbs” [Pg 213]

Cormorant

Eddie Suharto (Goalkeeper)a. Helpful and has a good grasp of Malay

Assisted Charlie in Malay [Pg 221]b. Rich Father is a millionaire [Pg 223]c. Personality [Pg 237]

Tek Seng a.k.a. “Brains”a. Top student, comparable to ‘A’ class

[Pg 223]

Ali (Captain, Centre-forward)a. Personality [Pg 237]

Balaa. Top student, cream of the crop [Pg

223]

Cher Piowa. Has a banker for a father [Pg 223]

Colonel Kirpala. Ranjeet’s Uncle [Pg 212]b. Features “big, light-coloured eyes…

deep voice…for dramatic effect” [Pg 213]

c. Subjective Story-teller “equal attention to both of us…his most loyal audience…asking for more when his own daughters had gone off” [Pg 213], “no rhetoric or theatrics this time” [Pg 216]

Crude at some parts to show the loss of innocence; war savagery Differentiate between Charlie & Co. and Ezra, both parties coming from different backgrounds [Pg 229 – Insults]

Show that Charlie & Friends are no longer small children (maturity) [Pg 225-226 – Food]

Illustrate the despair and savagery of war [Pg 216 – Defeated soldiers]

Varies throughout the story to signify a change in setting/mood Tragic story-telling [Pg 216 – Colonel Kirpal’s narration]

Conversation between Charlie and his father [Pg 224 – Short and disciplined + obedient answers]

Israeli surprise attack [Pg 243 – Sudden maturity in Ezra and acknowledgement of the troubles Charlie has went through]

Jaffa oranges and grapefruitEzra’s father gave Charlie a crate of them,

through the Ambassador, as Ezra told his father it was a custom to give them at Chinese New Year

Represents Israeli culture and indirectly, EzraCharlie misses Ezra and so wanted to “try

juicing the grapefruits with sugar and eating the oranges” [Pg 245] the next day, unlike his brother, Mark, who said eating them “twice is more than enough” [Pg 244]

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