to place sb on field of death / to confront with mortal danger / to give sb no way out / with one's back to the wall / looking death in the eye / part of idiom 置之死地而後生|置之死地而后生
置
=
直
+
罒
:
James II of England (zh) decided to go straight edge (直) and installs (置) his new seat (置) in the space station's bathroom (Ø4). He's going to use a fishing net (罒) as a kind of spartan, straight-edge hammock.
(possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的[de5]) / him / her / it
之
=
丶
+
Z
:
Mnemonic symbol: Sooo sleepy... "zZz" (the character looks like a "Z"). James II of England (zh) fell asleep in front of the space station (Ø1). He sleeps on a big petal leaf (丶), making loud "zZz" (之) sounds.
earth / ground / field / place / land / CL:片[pian4]
地
=
也
+
土
:
Dorothy Gale (di) hates the cleanliness of the space station, so she used an excavator (也) in the space station's bathroom (Ø4) to dig a pile of dirt (土) out of the ground (地) for a mud bath.
place sb on a field of death and he will fight to live (idiom based on Sunzi's "The Art of War" 孫子兵法|孙子兵法[Sun1 zi3 Bing1 fa3]); to fight desperately when confronting mortal danger / fig. to find a way out of an impasse