43 pages • 1-hour read
Kensuke's Kingdom
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Character Analysis
Michael
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of mental illness, suicidal ideation, animal cruelty and death, illness, and death.
Michael is the novel’s main character. He is 12 years old when he reaches the island. The story is narrated by an older version of the character, now a college graduate, more than 10 years after his rescue. The creative boy loves to express himself through sketching, painting, and writing, visualizing his creativity as a connection between mind and body: “I spoke it from my head, down my arm, through my fingers and my pencil, and onto the page. And that’s how it reads to me now, all these years later, like me talking” (17). The personal log that he keeps during his time aboard the Peggy Sue adds a layer of realism to the adventure narrative. Michael’s courage shapes his characterization and the story’s plot. For example, he becomes stranded on the island because he risks his life to protect Stella during a storm. Morpurgo also emphasizes Michael’s adaptability—a quality modeled for him by Kensuke. He quickly adjusts to the new realities of life on the Peggy Sue, his solitary existence on the island, and his routine with Kensuke. In each of these situations, the boy finds cause for joy and hope, such as when he eases the monotony and loneliness of his first weeks on the island by playing fetch with Stella. As Michael reflects: “She loved it and, to be truthful, so did I. It was the highlight of our day” (49). Michael’s creativity, courage, and adaptability allow him to endure the many changes and challenges he faces throughout the novel.
As the protagonist and narrator, Michael guides the story’s structure and illuminates its meaning. The novel follows him from his ordinary boyhood in the United Kingdom to his oceanic odyssey to his life-changing year in Kensuke’s Kingdom. His perspective underscores the adventure novel’s mood and suspense: “This is how I recorded our great journey. This is how it was for an eleven-year-old boy as we rode the wide oceans of the world onboard the Peggy Sue” (18).
Morpurgo lays the groundwork for his thematic exploration of The Importance of Ethical Relationships With Nature early in the novel through Michael’s adventures with his family that allow him to observe animals in their native habitats, increasing his respect for the natural world. The author emphasizes the ways Michael’s connection with nature deepens throughout the story—a key component of his character arc. On the island, he grows from an admiring observer of nature into a protector of his fellow creatures, such as the baby sea turtles and the orangutans.
Michael’s bond with Kensuke epitomizes The Essential Need for Friendship and Companionship—another of the novel’s key themes. On the island, Michael feels the isolation keenly and feels instantly drawn to Kensuke as the only other human inhabitant: “I wanted so much to see him again, to talk to him, to hear a human voice […] I so missed human company—my mother, my father, lost to me now, perhaps forever” (50). Michael’s character arc provides not only a suspenseful adventure story but also a reminder of the human need for connection and community.
Dr. Kensuke Ogawa
Kensuke, the sole inhabitant of the island, inspires the novel’s title. As a survivor of the bombing of Nagasaki and someone who has spent four decades on a deserted island, he contributes to the story’s genres as a historical fiction novel and an adventure story. When Michael meets him, Kensuke is 75 and has been alone for over 40 years: “He was diminutive, no taller than me, and as old as a man as I had ever seen. He wore nothing but a pair of tattered breeches bunched at the waist” (42). The elderly man’s lived experience gives him wisdom, which he shares with the protagonist: “Life must not be spent always hoping, always waiting. Life is for living” (88).
Another of Kensuke’s prominent traits is the quiet serenity with which he goes about his days. Kensuke was an obstetrician before World War II, and his nurturing, protective care for vulnerable creatures remains a formative part of him. Michael first becomes aware of his presence when he leaves food and water for the boy and his dog, and he watches over the turtle hatchlings: “Long way to go to sea. Very many die. So always I stay. I help them. I chase birds away, so they not eat baby turtles” (84). One reason why the novel’s happy ending is bittersweet is that the same protective love that motivates Kensuke to look after Michael ultimately leads him to stay and watch over the island while his friend returns to the outside world. Kensuke’s wisdom, serenity, and kindness leave a lasting impression on the novel’s main character.
Kensuke serves as the protagonist’s mentor and friend, modeling the themes of Survival and Resilience. He’s lived alone for decades, either foraging or building everything he needs to keep himself alive. Through his friendship with Michael, he experiences a dynamic shift in his character as he begins to restore the faith in humanity that he lost due to the trauma he experienced during World War II. As he tells Michael: “I hate you when you first come. But after little while you are like son to me” (79). Out of all the novel’s characters, he has the deepest relationship with nature. As the only human on the island, he forges bonds of trust and kinship with animals, especially orangutans. Morpurgo portrays Kensuke’s relationship with the apes as integral to his character. His “orangutan family” shows him how to survive and restores his will to live after he is stranded on the island (93), and he shelters them from humans who would harm them even though this means sacrificing his last chance to return to society. Through Kensuke’s character, Morpurgo urges his audience to cherish both human and animal life.
Michael’s Parents
Michael’s parents possess complementary traits that serve them in their marriage as well as their voyage on the Peggy Sue. His father is a dreamer who makes bold, impulsive decisions, most notably when he buys the yacht as a surprise, saying: “What is it that we all love doing most? Sailing, right? Wouldn’t it be wonderful, I thought, if we could just take off and sail around the world?” (10). In addition, his cheerfulness and sense of play add comic relief to the narrative alongside the harrowing challenges the family faces. In contrast, Michael’s mother is methodical: “[S]he worked night and day over her books and charts until she had mastered everything. She never stopped” (13). The contrasting personality traits of Michael’s mother and father help them balance one another and make them stronger as a team.
Morpurgo emphasizes the adaptability and resilience of Michael’s parents early in the novel—traits Michael himself develops and strengthens as the novel progresses. In his early memories, Michael describes his family as tight-knit and happy. However, his parents’ marriage becomes strained after they both lose their jobs and “terrible silence” and “creeping misery” replace their previous joy (7). Being at sea brings positive changes within the couple’s marriage: “[T]hey were like a couple of kids, all laughing and happy. They were never like this at home. These days they really smile at each other” (23). Their adventures demand great cooperation from Michael’s parents, and this heightened closeness leads to positive changes in their relationship with their son. As Michael reflects: “I soon discovered parents were more than just parents. My father became my friend, my shipmate” (13). He also notes that becoming skipper of the ship brings out valor and leadership ability in his mother: She “never showed even the faintest tremor of fear. She and the Peggy Sue saw us through our worst moments” (13). Michael’s reunion with his parents secures the novel’s happy ending—a resolution made possible by his mother’s resilient hope that her son is still alive even though he has been missing for a year.
The Poachers
The poachers are a group of men who come to the island to hunt gibbons. These minor characters are flat and static. Morpurgo provides no names or physical descriptions for them. The narrator never sees the poachers, which keeps the novel’s portrayal of the evil that humans perpetrate somewhat abstract and allows the author to focus on humanity’s capacity for goodness instead. This authorial decision reflects the novel’s overall tone and meaning. Morpurgo addresses difficult subjects, such as the devastation of war, but the story offers an uplifting view of human nature. It’s implied that the hunters “kill the [mother] gibbons and steal away the babies” for profit (88), making greed and selfishness two of their primary character traits. In addition, Morpurgo portrays the men as callous because they laugh while shooting the island’s animals. Their laughter brings to mind that of the American soldiers who landed on the island and laughed about the bombing of Nagasaki decades ago, evoking the same sense of cruelty in the wake of devastation. The poachers’ violent exploitation of the environment develops The Importance of Ethical Relationships With Nature by providing the antithesis of Kensuke’s gentle and protective bond with nature.
The poachers play an antagonistic role in the novel, influencing the story’s mood and structure. For example, they indirectly contribute to the initial opposition between Michael and Kensuke as well as the positive shift in their relationship. Michael attempts to signal a “Chinese junk” with “strange red-brown sails” (56), unaware that the ship is crewed by poachers who have menaced the island before. After Kensuke destroys the boy’s signal fire, Michael’s attempts to defy him lead to him being stung by the toxic jellyfish, an incident that brings the two characters close. The poachers’ return in Chapter 10 intensifies the novel’s suspense: “The shots cracked so close now, splitting the air and echoing around the cave” (90). In addition, the hunters shape the resolution by convincing Kensuke that he needs to stay and protect the island: “Maybe killer men come again. [….] This is Kensuke’s Kingdom. Emperor must stay in his kingdom, look after his people” (94). Although they have few appearances in the novel, the poachers make important contributions to the novel’s message, atmosphere, and resolution.
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