Background South Pacific (musical)

although book editor , university instructor james michener have avoided military service in world war ii birthright quaker, enlisted in u.s. navy in october 1942. not sent south pacific theater until april 1944, when assigned write history of navy in pacific , allowed travel widely. survived plane crash in new caledonia; near-death experience motivated him write fiction, , began listening stories told soldiers. 1 journey took him treasury islands, discovered unpleasant village, called bali-ha i, populated scrawny residents , 1 pig . struck name, michener wrote down , began record, on battered typewriter, version of tales. on plantation on island of espiritu santo, met woman named bloody mary; small, toothless, face stained red betel juice. punctuated profanity learned gis, complained endlessly michener french colonial government, refused allow , other tonkinese return native vietnam, lest plantations depopulated. told him of plans oppose colonialism in french indochina. these stories, collected tales of south pacific, won michener 1948 pulitzer prize fiction.

tales of south pacific comprises nineteen stories. each stands independently revolves around preparation american military operation dislodge japanese nearby island. operation, dubbed alligator, occurs in penultimate story, landing @ kuralei . many of characters die in battle, , last story titled cemetery @ huga point . stories thematically linked in pairs: first , final stories reflective, second , eighteenth involve battle, third , seventeenth involve preparation battle, , on. tenth story, @ center, however, not paired other. story, fo dolla   , 1 of 4 of many works michener later admitted holding in high regard. 1 attracted rodgers , hammerstein s attention potential converted stage work.

fo dolla   , set in part on island of bali-ha i, focuses on romance between young tonkinese woman, liat, , 1 of americans, marine lieutenant joe cable, princeton graduate , scion of wealthy main line family. pressed marry liat mother, bloody mary, cable reluctantly declines, realizing asian girl never accepted family or philadelphia society. leaves battle (where die) bloody mary proceeds backup plan, affiance liat wealthy french planter on islands. cable struggles, during story, own racism: able overcome sufficiently love liat, not enough take home.

another source of musical eighth story, our heroine , thematically paired 12th, boar s tooth , both involve american encounters local cultures. our heroine tells of romance between navy nurse nellie forbush, rural arkansas, , wealthy, sophisticated planter, frenchman emile de becque. after falling in love emile, nellie (who introduced briefly in story #4, officer , gentleman ) learns emile has 8 daughters, out of wedlock, several local women. michener tells person ... not white or yellow nigger nellie, , while willing accept 2 of children (of french-asian descent) remain in emile s household, taken aback other 2 girls live there, evidence planter had cohabited darker polynesian woman. great relief, learns woman dead, nellie endangers relationship emile when unable accept emile s nigger children. nellie overcomes feelings , returns spend life plantation owner.

additional elements of south pacific had genesis in others of michener s 19 tales. 1 introduces character of bloody mary; tells of british spy hidden on japanese-controlled island relays information japanese movements allied forces radio. michener based spy, dubbed remittance man , on captain martin clemens, scot, unlike fictional counterpart, survived war. stories tell of seemingly endless waiting precedes battle, , efforts of americans repel boredom, inspire song there nothing dame . several of stories involve seabee, luther billis, in musical used both comic relief , tie episodes involving otherwise unconnected characters.

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