Genre
Play
Setting and Context
Australia, 1995, at the 50 year reunion of Sheila and Bridie after their liberation from a Japanese WWII prisoner of war camp
Narrator and Point of View
There is no narrator, and the point of view is shared between Sheila and Bridie
Tone and Mood
The tone is reminiscent and nostalgic. The mood is combative with an underlying unsettled mood.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Bridie and Sheila are each the protagonist and antagonist.
Major Conflict
There is conflict between Sheila and Bridie with regard to the issue of prisoners having sex with guards.
Climax
Sheila tells Bridie's secret and Bridie tells Sheila's so that both women feel they do not have to hide from the past anymore and they are also able to finally enjoy liberation.
Foreshadowing
Bridie's malaria foreshadows Sheila's decision to offer sex to a camp guard in exchange for anti-malaria medication
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
The play alludes to real-life events that occurred to prisoners of war held captive in Japan.
Imagery
The imagery painted by the women conveys the filth and lack of hygiene within the camps and also conveys the way in which men and women were kept separately.
Paradox
Although both women were liberated in 1945, they have remained prisoners because they have not fully come to terms with their experiences and so they are not truly liberated until 1995.
Parallelism
There is a parallel between Sheila's feelings of guilt about her rape and Bridie's feelings of guilt about her arrest for shoplifting.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
"The Japs" is the way in which the prisoners referred to their prison guards.
Personification
N/A
