Assignments

Trevor Suzuki 11/15/11 US Gov The Pistol - James Jones (takes place onOahu)

James Ramon Jones was born and raised in Robinson, Illinois, the son of Ramon and Ada M. (née Blessing) Jones. He enlisted in the United States Army, in 1939 and served in the 25th Infantry Division, before and during World War II, first in Hawaii at Schofield Barracks on Oahu, then in combat on Guadalcanal, where he was wounded in action. The plot of //The Pistol//, published in January of 1959, is simple. As the novella opens, on 7 December 1941, Pfc. Richard Mast is in possession of a pistol he has been assigned for guard duty. In the confusion of the Japanese attack onPearl Harbor, the pistol is overlooked. Mast becomes obsessed with the pistol, sees it as a symbol of salvation against an imaginary Japanese officer wielding a Samurai saber, and finally convinces himself that the weapon is rightfully his. Other men in the company try to force Mast to give up the pistol, by threatening him, offering to buy it, or trying to steal it, but Mast keeps possession until supply clerk Musso shows up with the original requisition slip Mast had signed and reclaims the gun. The book ends with Mast "staring at the picture of his Japanese major, who would someday come for him." As bombs begin to fall on Pearl Harbor, nineteen-year-old PFC Richard Mask is wearing a pistol, a .45 caliber automatic that makes him feel connected to the army of the Wild West and Custer's Cavalry. In the chaos of his first days and weeks of the war, as Mask and his company move from Schofield Barracks to the beaches of Oahu, then to a remote mountain pass, a struggle over the pistol dominates this novella's action, providing the pathos and savagery of the story