 First edition cover |
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| Author | Herman Wouk |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
| Publication date | 1951 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Preceded by | City Boy: The Adventures of Herbie Bookbinder (1948) |
| Followed by | Marjorie Morningstar (1955) |
The Caine Mutiny is a 1951 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Herman Wouk. The novel grew out of Wouk's personal experiences aboard a destroyer-minesweeper in the Pacific in World War II and deals with, among other things, the moral and ethical decisions made at sea as interpreted by the code of the US Navy.
Plot summary
The novel is about Willis Seward "Willie" Keith, an affluent, callow young man who secures a reserve commission through the Navy's officer procurement system to avoid being drafted into the Army during World War II. Part I of the novel covers his V-7 Naval Officer training as well as his trials and tribulations with his mother and his girlfriend, May Wynn, a beautiful redhaired nightclub singer whose real name is Marie Minotti. After barely graduating from the course, due to his possessing the highest number of demerits in the class, he is assigned to the Destroyer Minesweeper (DMS) USS Caine, a combat-battered vessel converted from an old World War I destroyer. Keith is at first rather lackadaisical about his duties, but is soon inspired by a note from his father, who died of cancer after sending it. The first Captain, Captain Devrees, is soon relieved by Lieutenant Commander Philip Francis Queeg, a strong, authoritarian figure whom Willie at first believes to be just what the condemned Caine and its poorly disciplined crew needs. However as the Caine begins its missions, Queeg is soon regarded as a coward and incompetent, after running away from combat, losing a gunnery training target by running over the ship's towline while disciplining a sailor and Keith, who is the morale officer, for having a shirtail hanging out. He is given the nickname "Old Yellowstain" after he decides to leave a yellow marker for the marines to land on enemy soil, but leaves too quickly to provide adequate cover for them. Tensions soon rise on the ship due to Queeg's sub-par commanding efforts, perceived abuse of some of the crew, and the total non-support of the officers. First Officer Steve Maryk and Lieutenant Tom Keefer, who formerly worked as a magazine writer, begin to discuss whether Queeg has the mental problem of paranoia. Keefer in particular is keen to point Maryk in that direction, quoting from books and generally egging Maryk on. When Maryk tries to bring a record of Queeg's eccentric and potentially paranoid behavior to the attention of the fleet's Admiral Halsey, Keefer refuses to be a part of what he considers to be a mutiny. Subsequently, during a violent typhoon, Queeg makes decisions that Maryk believes will lead to the sinking of the ship. Maryk relieves the captain of duty on the grounds of mental illness. Keith, on duty as the Officer of the Deck supports Maryk's decision to relieve Queeg, in the sudden crisis at hand. After the alleged mutiny, a court-martial is held. Keefer distances himself from Maryk, even though he has no Navy career in mind, and thus finally shows himself to be a coward. Navy pilot Lt. Barney Greenwald, a crack attorney in civilian life, represents Maryk. Greenwald gets Queeg on the stand and prods him until he falls apart and shows his mental problems. Maryk is acquitted and Queeg is sent to an out-of-the-way office job for the Navy in Iowa. A drunk Greenwald shows up at the party celebrating the verdict, and accuses Keefer of being a coward. He tells the gathering that he feels ashamed of destroying Queeg on the stand, but had to do so because "the wrong man was on trial". The party is ruined after Greenwald throws his drink on Keefer, leaving a yellow stain on his attire, which symbolizes him being the new "Old Yellowstain," because of his devious way of keeping himself out of trouble in the trial. Keith ends up commanding the Caine for its last voyage to the scrap-yard at the end of the war and decides to marry Marie Minotti, the girl whom he ditched before the war. However, this will not be as easy as he once thought it would be, as she is now the blonde girlfriend of a bandleader. Willie faces a challenge just as great as the one he has overcome. The question of how "sick" Queeg was is never fully answered; to Greenwald, the entire trial was a sham, and he only savaged Queeg to get Maryk off the hook. In the end, the mutiny is never fully justified.
See also
- Queeg - An episode of the UK sitcom series Red Dwarf
- The film The Caine Mutiny was based on the novel and starred Humphrey Bogart as Queeg.
- A two act play that Wouk developed from the novel is The Caine Mutiny Court Martial.
- The name of Captain Queeg is similar to Queequeg from Melville's Moby Dick.
- Typhoon Cobra, an actual typhoon that threatened U.S. warships under circumstances similar to those in the book.
External links
- Study Guide of Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny from SparkNotes
- Raising Caine, video of Wouk reflecting on the novel on its 50th anniversary.
- Photos of the first edition of The Caine Mutiny
| Preceded by The Town by Conrad Richter |
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 1952 |
Succeeded by The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway |
