The Naked and the Dead

The Naked and the Dead Summary | Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary

It is night, and an American troopship convoy lies off the coast of Anopopei, a fictional Japanese island in the Pacific Ocean. A soldier wakes in his cramped bunk, sandwiched between layers of similar bunks and surrounded by dangling equipment, and he goes to sit and smoke in the latrine, enjoying the coolness there, and wishing it was dawn.

A group of five men is on deck, playing seven-card stud - Wilson, Gallagher and Staff Sergeant Croft, and two orderlies. Wilson is enjoying phenomenally good luck, and has won nearly a hundred Australian pounds, a currency that he does not really understand.

Croft is sullen because he has had poor hands all evening and has lost some money.

Wilson regrets that he cannot buy any liquor, even with all the money he has won. He tells the other men that he is missing drink and sex, and he is not able to remember what either is like. When he begins to lose, he drops out of the game, and daydreams about finding a way to make money by manufacturing liquor from sugar, tinned fruit and yeast. His initial excitement at this idea gives way to dejection as he starts to realize the difficulties he would have obtaining the necessary materials and finding a hidden place for his enterprise.

Gallagher is resentful of Wilson, "that dumb cracker" for having won the money. Gallagher feels guilty because he has lost thirty pounds, which he should have sent home to his pregnant wife, Mary. Gallagher feels that no matter how hard he tries, something always happens to spoil things for him. He looks at Levy, one of the orderlies shuffling the cards, who is Jewish, and thinks that the Jews have all the luck. Gallagher imagines having his head blown off when they land on the beach the next day. He wonders if his body would be shipped home, and whether his wife would come to his grave, and he finds that he cannot picture what she looks like.

Sergeant Croft has a sudden and unshakeable conviction that he is going to win the poker hand, and Gallagher plays desperately in an attempt to recoup his losses. Croft is disgusted when he finds he does not win the hand. When a soldier calls out asking the card players to stop making a noise so that the men can get some sleep, Croft tells him to shut up, and the soldier backs off.

Wilson feels bad at having won Gallagher's money, and he does not understand why the others are taking the game so seriously.

Red goes up onto the deck, looking out to sea and thinking about the week ahead, the landing, getting wet and unloading equipment. He sees that he will just go from one day to the next. He realizes that he has forgotten to put on his life belt, and is angry with himself when he considers going back for it. "Goddam Army gets you so you're afraid to turn around." This reminds him of a conversation he had had with Hennessey, a kid who had joined the division a few weeks before.

Red is a loner who does not need anybody else, except for a Two-bit Annie when he feels like company.

Sergeant Brown and Stanley are in their bunks, discussing women. Brown says there is not a woman you can trust, but Stanley says that he trusts his wife. He is uncomfortable with the way the conversation is going, but he knows that Brown does not like people disagreeing with him. Brown says that when he gets home, he will check up on his wife, and if he finds she has been two-timing him, he will beat her up and kick her out.

Brown imagines his wife fooling around, and gets angry. He tells Stanley he does not know how he survived the combat at Motome, the island they had invaded previously. Stanley has heard the story before, but encourages Brown to retell it. Brown says that Sergeant Croft is probably the best platoon sergeant in the Army. Unlike himself, who is scared all the time just like all the other men, Croft does not know the meaning of fear.

Like Pavlov's dog, Sergeant Martinez, a scout, reacts to noise. He has been involved in combat for so long and has known so much terror that any loud noise makes him panic, and he dreads their arrival on the island in the morning.