Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Grew Up… in Kentucky.
Living… in O’ahu, Hawaii, where he just moved to from Fort Shafter. He was bitter about being passed up for a promotion at Fort Shafter that he felt he deserved, so a transfer to Hawaii sounded like just the ticket.
Profession… soldier, training as a private in a rifle outfit. He is a talented bugle player and even played taps at Arlington National Cemetery once.
Interests… anything but boxing. He used to be a great middleweight boxer, but he retired his mitts for good after blinding his closest friend in the ring a year ago. Somehow the new captain, Captain Holmes, got wind of his boxing talents and desperately wants Prew to join his boxing team. When Prew refuses, the captain promises to make his life a living hell.
Relationship Status… single. He has been frequenting the New Congress Club with the other soldiers on leave to meet women. It’s a gentleman’s club, and it’s supposed to be a classy place. But with soldiers as its main clientele, things can get a little crazy. It was at the New Congress Club that Prewitt met Lorene, a “hostess” at the club. Prewitt is attracted to her, but he is not even sure Lorene is her real name. And Lorene says she doesn’t want to be with an Army man.
Challenge… overcoming Warden's determination to destroy him since he won't fight for Captain Holmes. Prew has many courses of action, but all of them seem doomed. As bad as this situation is, it is about to get worse for him. He is stationed in Hawaii near Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
Personality… independent, stubborn, and a bit of a loner. With strong convictions, he has a strong code he lives by. And he won’t back down to anyone if he thinks he is right. As Prew says, “A man don't go his own way, he's nothing.”
Get to Know him in...
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In 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his captain's wife and second in command are falling in love.
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Jason Voorhees, the living, breathing essence of evil, is back for one fierce, final fling! Tracked down and blown to bits by a special FBI task force, everyone now assumes that he's finally dead. But everybody assumes wrong. Jason has been reborn with the bone-chilling ability to assume the identity of anyone he touches. The terrifying truth is that he could be anywhere, or anybody. In this shocking, blood-soaked finale to Jason's carnage-ridden reign of terror, the horrible secret of his unstoppable killing instinct is finally revealed.
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Diamond Head, Hawaii, 1941. Pvt. Robert E. Lee Prewitt is a champion welterweight and a fine bugler. But when he refuses to join the company's boxing team, he gets "the treatment" that may break him or kill him. First Sgt. Milton Anthony Warden knows how to soldier better than almost anyone, yet he's risking his career to have an affair with the commanding officer's wife. Both Warden and Prewitt are bound by a common bond: the Army is their heart and blood . . .and, possibly, their death.
In this magnificent but brutal classic of a soldier's life, James Jones portrays the courage, violence and passions of men and women who live by unspoken codes and with unutterable despair. . .in the most important American novel to come out of World War II, a masterpiece that captures as no ther the honor and savagery of men.
From the Paperback edition.
