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Confusions(Verwirrungen), disguises(Masken) and deceptions(Täuschungen)
Jim's purpose in writing down his life with the Captain and Liza is to make things clear to himself.
The tow people (Captain, Liza) are frequently absent.
Added to this is the Captain's mani for adopting different roles and names. He is by turns Cardigan, Carver, Claridge, Roger, Vincent and Baxter. Ad one point he appears with a moustache and is then cleanshaven only to reappear with a beard.
In this novel nothing is as it appears to be;
- Mr Quigly sounds American but turns out to be English; he says he is a newspaper man but it is clear that his interests go beyond journalism;
- we are told that Jim was won in a gome of backgammon (or was it chess? Another confusion)
Deceptions multiply between the characters;
- Liza faithfully gives the Captain tea, his dislike of which he alwas hides
- Jim disguises the fact that he has not slept in the despised orange pyjamas
Throughout the book there is an air of secrecy (Heimlichkeit) and caution (Vorsicht);
- the special code used to ring the doorbell of the London home
- the Captain's urgent request for Jim to ask no questions of Liza
- Liza's dislike of the outside world
- Jim's pretence at walking to school for the benefit of the neighbours
- In Panama, Jim's uncertainty about Quigly an Colonel Martinez
- The hidden aeroplane
- The Captain's enigmatic hints about his political activities..
Love
The Captain and the Enemy, is seen as a danger to those involved and as an infection like an attack of flu. Jim doubts his own ability to love and concludes after witnessing the brief and repressed expression of love between the Captain and Liza: Love and fear-fear and love-They are inextricably linked.
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