The Sand Pebbles: Difference between revisions

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* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Jameson.

* [[The Engineer]]: Holman.

* [[Grey and Gray Morality]]: The Americans are corrupted by having power for to long and the Chinese are by gaining power suddenly after being powerless. Actually there are many parties, most off stage and the only one's innocent were the unseen Chinese peasants to weak to do much of anything evil and who obviously did not have gunboats to protect them.

* [[Gunboat Diplomacy]]: The historical context for the story, which provides literal examples.

* [[Interrupted Suicide]]: The captain after the attempted mutiny.

* [[Knight in Sour Armor]]: While he tells us he is just an engineer, he mentors Po-hon, helps rescue Mai-ling, and dies heroically rescuing a woman. All in all he maintains not only bravery but even compassion amid the corruption around.

* [[Last Stand]]: Holman stays behind to hold off the Chinese soldiers while the other sailors evacuate Shirley to the boat.

* [[Machine Empathy]]: Holman feels more comfortable around machines than around people. Given the way he affectionately speaks to the ship's steam engine, it almost qualifies as [[Cargo Ship]].

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* [[Mercy Kill]]: Holman shoots Po-han at the latter's request, to avoid him being tortured to death by a lynch mob. It's still very much a [[Shoot the Dog]] deed as far as he and everyone else is concerned.

* [[The Mutiny]]: Not carried through, but a close thing nonetheless.

* [[Officer and a Gentleman]]: The Captain is big on this. He is stiff and looks like a martinet at first but he turns out to be a surprisingly [[Reasonable Authority Figure]]. He also seems to have a penchant for [[Honor Before Reason]] but there is a method to that as is shown by the fact that he is able to win a stare down twice even with crippling rules of engagement simply by a sense of the value of reputation.

* [[Reassigned to Antarctica]]: Holman is transferred to a remote backwater because he tends to get on his superiors' wrong side.

* [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]]: "What the hell happened?"

* [[The Bully]]: Stawski especially but most of the Sand Pebbles who in a drunken state encourage the sexual assault on Mai-Ling in a tavern.

* [[Title Drop]]: "Welcome aboard the Sand Pebble. That's what we call ourselves, the Sand Pebbles."

* [[The Revolution Will Not Be Civilised]]: Po-Han is given the beginning of a death of a thousand cuts (before he is shot) for working for the Americans, and Mai-Ling is murdered by the rebels for having the audacity to fall in love with an American. Neither the Chinese nor the Americans are really very nice.

**An exception occurs when a Nationalist commander who is taking over a shore base honors of war. He clearly wants to be seen as a fellow professional. The effect is spoiled by civilians pelting the crew from windows.

* [[We ARE Struggling Together]]: Everyone is struggling together. The Chinese are struggling, but agree they want the foreigners gone. A hint at the Bolsheviks coming with Russian support is mentioned too.

* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Political?]]: A film from the 1960s depicting American forces stuck in a quagmire in Asia?

* [[Yellow Peril]]: Just look at the tagline on the poster.