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Born Nov 15, 1930 in Shanghai
Spent war at Lunghua prison camp,
having been reunited with parents after
wandering Shanghai alone.
Met other children in the camp who were
alone, having been separated from
parents.
Left China at 16 and studied Medicine at
Cambridge University.
Served as a pilot in the Royal Air Force.
Began writing Science Fiction in mid 1950s.
Wife died 1964 and a death became a recurring
theme in his writing.
Published Empire of the Sun in 1984 – It won
the Guardian Fiction Prize (1984), was
nominated for the Booker Prize (1984) and won
the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1985.
Empire of the Sun was adapted into a movie in
1987 – produced and directed by Steven
Spielberg.
JG Ballard died in 2009.
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During the 1930s, totalitarian regimes arose in
Germany, Italy and Japan. They became known as the
Axis powers and began to forcibly expand into
neighbouring territories.
1939 Britain and France declared war on Germany
after a U-boat sank the British ship Athenia off the
coast of Ireland. All members of the British
Commonwealth (except Ireland) soon joined Britain
and France.
Dunkirk. In 1940, Britain retreated from France and
France fell to German invasion. The Battle of Britain
began, with Britain being bombarded from the air as
Germany attempted to gain ascendancy in the skies.
Britain was being supplied by America but the
crossings were treacherous as many ships fell victim
to German submarines.
In December 1941, after Pearl Harbour, America
joined the war.
By 8th May 1945 all German forces had surrendered –
end of state of war was not declared until 1950.
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In August 1937 the Japanese attacked
Shanghai, which fell under Japanese control
by November. The foreign zones
(international settlements) remained under
control of the foreign nationals at this time.
By 1940, Japan controlled a large part of
China, including Northern China and the
Yangtze valley
The foreign zones were occupied by the
Japanese after December 7th 1941, when the
Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour.
Japan formally surrendered on August 15th
1945 – with hostilities formally ceasing in
1952
Strength and Weakness
Jim’s ability to cope with his harsh
surroundings reveals his strength
of character and the nature of
human adaptability. Others
escape into death but Jim is
determined to survive and
adapts, eating insects and
ingratiating himself with his
captors.
Violence and Cruelty
Jim is able to recognise the capacity for
cruelty in others as well as himself.
Seeing so much of it helps him to
understand why is happens.
He sees the thoughtless cruelty towards
the beggars and the Chinese and
recognises Lieutenant Price’s violent
feelings towards him. He also struggles
with his own as he obtains extra food in
order to survive. (see important quotes)
Change and Transformation
Coming of Age
Jim matures from child to man
through the course of the novel.
After being separated from his
family he must learn to cope alone
and survive the brutal conditions he
endures in the camps. As a result
he learns important lessons about
himself and about human nature.
As Jim matures he undergoes the biggest
change as he is wrenched from his
comfortable and privileged Shanghai life and
forced to live, as the Chinese do, with
deprivation and constant threat of death. This
leads Jim to self-discovery as he realises his
ingenuity, courage and resilience
Alienation and Loneliness
Jim must learn to deal with these feeling as he is
left to survive alone. He uses his imagination to
fill his days, imagining he is a Japanese fighter
pilot. This helps him combat his loneliness.
Appearance and Reality
Linked to coming of age and change and
transformation. By the end of the war Jim
has let go of innocent ideas regarding the
nature of war. As a child he thought of
war as an ‘heroic adventure’ but by the
end he recognises the devastating reality.
A theme is a broad idea, message, or moral of a story. The message may be about life, society, or human nature.
Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas and are almost always implied rather than stated explicitly.
Along with plot, character, setting, and style, theme is considered one of the fundamental components of
fiction.
Obstfeld, 2002, p. 1, 65, 115, 171
Style – the manner in which the author tells the story
Point of View
The novel is told in THIRD PERSON
NARRATION through the eyes of JIM, our
MAIN PROTAGONIST, as he experiences the
horror of life in China during WWII. This
provides both a vivid picture of the
destruction that surrounds Jim, but also
shows how he is a detached observer – a
survival skill he develops as a coping
mechanism in the camps, but is evident in
the early scenes.
Tone
The novel is a realist
novel and has a matter of
fact tone as a result of
the relatively uncomplicated,
uncluttered vocabulary and
straightforward sentence structures and vivid
descriptions. This serves to reinforce the horror as
many of the scenes being described are often
disturbing and bizarre. Jim’s position as detached
observer reporting what he sees reinforces this.
Symbol
Ballard uses abandoned buildings and drained
swimming pools as symbols of Jim’s predicament
and psychological state. As he searches for his
parents, he comes across many abandoned homes
and pools, symbols of the privileged lives led by
the Europeans. This emptiness foreshadows life in
the camps, where social hierarchies are reversed
and eventually collapse.
Basie
Jim
Main Characters
•11 year old schoolboy – English, but brought up in
Shanghai so more familiar with this.
•American sailor who Jim meets before they are
sent to the internment camp.
•We see events from his point of view.
• Jim describes Basie as looking unmarked by life.
•Separated from parents during Japanese invasion –
lost and alone in Shanghai.
(see important quotes)
•Ends up in Japanese Internment Camp where he
survives by performing errands and refusing to give in.
•Naïve, detached and self-absorbed at the start of the
novel, he shows strength of character, courage and
self-awareness throughout the novel.
•He learns that war is not an heroic endeavour, but
rather is full of horror and cruelty. However, he also
learns the importance of looking after each other, that
"having someone to care for was the same as being
cared for by someone else."
•Basie looks to profit from the war and makes
money however and wherever he can.
•Although Basie can be generous to Jim, he was
also prepared to see Jim die.
•Basie’s ability to trade means he end up with a
‘complete General Store’ in the camp.
•Basie only looks to the immediate , short-term
benefits or consequences of any situation.
•In contrast to Jim, Basie remains ‘barely touched’
by the war, and this seems to be how he survives.