Previous
Master Irjah
Master Jun is the Combat master at Sinegard Academy. He’s cruel and exacting, and unfortunately for Rin, he’s extremely classist. Jun doesn’t believe that any child who doesn’t come from a wealthy and/or noble background should pass the Keju and gain admittance to Sinegard. As such, he actively helps Nezha cheat and takes the first opportunity he gets to kick Rin out of his class for good. Later, when he’s made a commander in the Militia again, he’s rude and uncooperative toward Altan and the Cike due to his biases against shamans, who he thinks are untrustworthy and also ridiculous.
Master Jun Quotes in The Poppy War
The The Poppy War quotes below are all either spoken by Master Jun or refer to Master Jun. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5
Quotes
“The Keju doesn’t mean anything,” Rin said scathingly. “The Keju is a ruse to keep uneducated peasants right where they’ve always been. You slip past the Keju, they’ll find a way to expel you anyway. The Keju keeps the lower classes sedated. It keeps us dreaming. It’s not a ladder for mobility; it’s a way to keep people like me exactly where they were born. The Keju is a drug.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6
Quotes
“And so modern martial arts were developed: a system based on human biomechanics rather than the movements of animals. The enormous variety of techniques, some of which were only marginally useful to a soldier, were distilled into an essential core of forms that could be taught to a soldier in five years rather than fifty. This is the basis of what you are taught at Sinegard. This is the common core that is taught to the Imperial Militia. This is what your classmates are learning.” He grinned. “I am showing you how to beat it.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Poppy War LitChart as a printable PDF.
Master Jun Character Timeline in The Poppy War
The timeline below shows where the character Master Jun appears in The Poppy War. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
...darker skin tone. The following morning, Rin’s class reports for their first Combat lesson. Master Jun already seems disappointed in the students. He explains that students must never fight “irresponsibly,” and...
(full context)
Chapter 4
...roll their eyes; Trengsin seems to hold every school record and be every Master’s favorite. Jun continues to hold class outside into the fall, despite the cold. One day, as Jun...
(full context)
Jun’s classes are awful, but the nightly practice sessions, led by apprentices Kureel and Jeeha, are...
(full context)
Witnessing Altan fight inspires the first-years to try harder in Jun’s class. They all improve, so one day, Jun asks them to spar “responsibly.” Rin is...
(full context)
Chapter 5
Rin leaves Jun’s class and sits down to cry. Now, she has no way to earn her place...
(full context)
...compliments Rin and suggests she’d do well to apprentice to him, but Rin explains that Jun kicked her out of class, so she probably won’t pass.
(full context)
Chapter 6
Rin shares that Jun expelled her and why, which seems to impress Jiang. She realizes he’s laughing at her...
(full context)
...her at the gates the next day. As he begins to lead her off campus, Jun and his apprentices approach and insist that Jiang can’t take Rin off campus without permission...
(full context)
...original martial arts forms that initially had nothing to do with fighting. He suggests that Jun trains students efficiently, to make good soldiers, but he claims that he can “teach [Rin]...
(full context)
Chapter 7
...that they won because they “gave up Speer.” This leads her into an argument with Jun, who insists he was at Speer, but Rin has delved into historical records and doesn’t...
(full context)
...Rin’s next two matches go similarly, and she realizes that all her classmates—all trained by Jun—fight the exact same way. She, along with Kitay, Nezha, and Venka, advance to elimination rounds...
(full context)
Chapter 9
...as much of a place—the modern world requires “conformity and uniform obedience,” and people like Jun want to be able to teach thousands of soldiers the same thing. Jiang’s educational methods...
(full context)
Chapter 12
...so tired that she doesn’t find this odd. Once, she hears the Empress, Irjah, and Jun arguing: the Empress and Irjah argue that it’s not right to imprison Rin like this,...
(full context)
Chapter 13
...of beach and a small part of the city, but the Fifth Division—currently led by Jun—won’t cooperate with the Cike to take back the city. The issue, Qara explains, is that...
(full context)
Chapter 15
...Warlords begin to openly support Altan—though they take credit for his success. Altan doesn’t mind. Jun is the only person who thinks Altan made a mistake, as he insists that the...
(full context)
...they can negotiate a surrender, and they’ve brought salt and sugar to demonstrate their goodwill. Jun makes the Federation soldiers taste the sugar, and when it’s deemed nonpoisonous, Altan insists that...
(full context)
Chapter 17
...office. There, Altan forbids Rin from speaking to Nezha, whom he believes is spying for Jun. He then grabs her shoulders and shakes her, insisting she’s “deadweight” since she can’t call...
(full context)
...points out that she humiliated him in front of their class and in front of Jun—and that she almost killed him. Nezha admits that he was afraid and apologizes, but Rin...
(full context)
...Unegen, and Qara on the street, and they all hurry to Altan’s signal. Altan and Jun are arguing about who evacuated civilians, but Jun insists it wasn’t him. Altan snatches a...
(full context)
Chapter 19
...the fog creates widespread terror. Civilians flee the city. In a commanders’ meeting, Altan tells Jun to have his men do crowd control—and it comes out that Altan stole a Federation...
(full context)
