Choose a novel or a short story which reaches a climax which you find drama or
moving or disturbing.
Explain how the writer achieves the effect and discuss how it contributes to
your appreciation of the text.
‘Empire of the Sun’ is a disturbing novel my J.G Ballard. It explores the brutality of war and
how the effects never really go away. The main themes of the novel is the loss of childhood
normality and self-worth. Within the main theme there are climaxes throughout the novel
such as Jim losing his parents, him leaving Lunghua camp, the atomic bomb and returning to
Shanghai and being reunited with his parents. All these will be mentioned in this essay.
Ballard cleverly reaches the climax of this emotive novel which concerns the brutality the
war and how it can effect a person’s life. Jim’s loss of childhood is displayed when he is
separated from his parents. This event starts the domino effect of Jim losing all sense of
protection. The extreme sorrow Jim feels towards being away from his mother as he says
“her presence hung in the air like her scent, holding at the bay the deformed figure in the
fractured mirror.” The use of the word ‘deformed’ to describe himself shows how that since
his mother has been gone it has drastically changed him. This causes the readers to
sympathies with Jim greatly. Another factor portraying the reach of climax is leaving the
camp.
The extreme loss of Jims childhood normality is shown when he is leaving Lunghua as “he
[is] unwilling the believe that the war [is] over.” Cleverly, Ballard conveys that war gives Jim
a sense of security and normality. The war is all Jim has known for the past three years of his
life. This really depicts the horrifying effect war has had on Jim as for him war, which is such
a horrific act, has become normal and has made he feel secure. Jim knows that as soon as
he steps out of the camp the protection he has there was disintegrate. But as Jim’s
understanding of the war progresses he begins to realise the true brutality of war and it’s
ever lasting effect. Normally, people would want to be relieved that the war is over so that
they can go back to their normal lives. Jim knows this is impossible. He understands the war
taints and corrupts everything in its path even once it’s finished. This is deeply horrifying for
the reader as they are seeing that for a child, war is normal. Another factor which help
portray the disturbing climax is the atomic bomb.
Through ‘Empire of the Sun’ Ballard cleverly uses imagery to clearly portray the dropping of
the atomic bomb which helps contribute to the disturbing climax. When the prisoners reach
the stadium, the atomic bomb is dropped and a “large flash of light filled the stadium,
flaring over the sands in the southeast corner of the football field, as if, an immense
American bomb had exploded somewhere in the east.” Through the clever use of this,
Ballard paints a clear picture in the reader’s mind of how brutal and destructive we can
become because of powerful weapons to completely annihilate each other. This cleverly
causes the reader to feel horrified and disgusted which clearly contributes to the disturbing
climax of this novel. Another factor is Jim being reunited with his parents.
J.G Ballard cleverly builds up the final climax of the novel by reinforcing to the reader the
idea that war is never truly over even once the war was over and Jim was reunited with
parents in Shanghai “[Jim’s] mother and father had been through their own war, for all their
affection for him, they seemed older and far away.” Normality was not resumed. Ballard
shows through this that the sheer horrors of war have a lasting effect on all and it evokes
great pity that the life of a young boy has been destroyed forever. Jim will never be like he
was before the war. This makes the readers feel immense pity and sorrow for Jim and also
his parents.
To conclude, J.G Ballard’s disturbing novel “Empire of the Sun” clearly depicts the horrifying
aspects of war and clearly conveys the climax of loss of childhood normality and self-worth.
By, Devon, Ciara, Bailey and Hannah