Chapter 27 Jenny

The execution: Food arrives for the prisoners but it is half the normal ration. Jim is happy to see food but is disapointed that there is less. Jim goes to collect Basie's ration for and queues with the other prisoners from E block after doing several other jobs for Basie like washing his shirts. It is clearer now how Basie is using Jim, but Jim knows it , in return for old magazines to read. Jim does the jobs to rty to keep the camp going and is excited when Basie gives him another magazine even though he knows it isn't really a fair deal. Sitting outside E block Jim sees a Chinese man being executed. The coolie is surrounded by the japanese who have briefly sounded the air raid siren to get the other prisoners attention. Many other prisoners watch without trying to help the man and barely moving. "Jim realised...none of the British internees would raise a finger, even if every coolie in China was beaten to death in front of them." Jim too isn't bothered to see the murder and he goes back to his room to the comapany of the Vincents who then argue as they have found Jim's turtle and try to get rid of it, but Jim stands his ground.

chapter 16 by Laurie

The water ration

'Were they lost'. The opening of this chapter shows the uncetainty of the situation and also that Jim knows rather more than would be expected of an 11 year old boy in his situation (which is a common theme throughout the next few chapters).
Ballard then goes on to describe the landscape that the cart goes through as it leaves the city. Chapei, then the outskirts of Shanghai and into the coutryside, and how the war has affected these places and their contants. 'Before the war a small english boy would have been killed for his shoes within minutes. Now he was safe, guarded by the Japanese soldiers'. this journey marks the starts of Jims new life, and with it he meets a whole host of new people. Most of them are unremarkable through this journey and the rest of the book, but they ask Jim questions about the Japanese and Aircraft, as though they acknowledge Jim knowledge of the situation and his power within the group. On page 128 we are introduced to Dr Ransome properly for te first time. He is quite a respected member of the group and seems to know, like Jim, what is going on. He is quite friendly and interested in Jim, but Jim 'knew that for some reason Dr Ransome disapproved of him'.
Jim as leader is a key theme in this chapter and this comes to a head after their meal when he retrieves the bottles of water, something that none of the adults can manage. This shows that despite his years, Jim has bravery and iniative and leadership skills that the others do not, and he is able to help them survive.
Jim is on a journey, not just to the camps, but in himself as well. Although he still has immature tendencies, he is independant, and is using what he has learnt throughout his short life to help him in this critical situation.

Chapter 29

The Prisoners are making their way from Lunghua Camp to Nantao laden with many recreational posessions. The soldiers and NCO's are 'curiously unhurried' and Jim had been unnerved by the 'act of walking without challenge through the gates'. Jim considers ripping up the photo of the unknown couple because he thinks he is about to see his real mother an father. This shows Jim's immaturity because it is still quite unlikely that he is going to ever see his parents again. However Jim still believes he will! As they struggle towards the camp in the humid conditions it is evident that Jim is concirned about Mr Maxteds exhaustion. Therefore Jim decided to drop back in the queue with him. However, in the end Jim is forced to leave him and try to get back to the head of the queue. Jim is worried at the thought of whether the water is safe to drink from the river. He thinks about the many times he boiled the water at Lunghua for Basie. As they wrest, Jim is worried that Mrs phillips has died and goes over to her. He speaks to her and she offers him a fermented potato. Mrs phillips suggests that they are heading up country, this worries Jim because he knows the rations are at Nantao. After wresting on the river banks they are made to get up again by the Japanese and carry on walking. Mrs Phillips is so exhausted and because Jim now thinks they are heading up country, he wonders whether to stay where they are with Mrs phillips. Then just before they set of Mr Maxted goes over to Jim. ' Good boy , Jim We're moving on to Nantao'. Confused Jim knows that it is unlikely that anyone will help the Mrs Phillips leter to get to Nantao. So Jim shuts Mrs phillips out of his mind and decides to head off with everyone to Nantao. Looking back he notices that the other prisoners are so exhausted that they can no longer carry their recreatinal belongings! However for Jim 'after so many years without any belongings he did not intend to discard them now'. Looking back at Mrs Phillips, 'Death, with her mother-of-pear white skin, had almost seduced him with a sweet potato'.

Chapter Summary- 41: Rescue Mission- Lucy Oliva

Jim sits in shock and disbelief, watching the corpse of the Japanese pilot who had just died right in front of him. He reflects on what this young man had meant to him, offering some hope and visions of flying out of Shanghai together to escape the warzone. "He had failed to grasp the truth that millions of Chinese had known from birth, that they were all as good as dead anyway, and that it was self-deluding to believe otherwise." All around Jim was chaos, but he ignored it, deciding to eat a can of spam and then use the tin to dig a grave for the corpse. Jim thinks he has witnessed a miracle when the boy appears to come back to life, that his hands had some sort of power to revive the dead pilot. In awe of the encounter, Jim resides to leave the body, given new hope and purpose to go on and find his friends and family.

Jim runs back to camp and notices that the American planes and pilots had arrived. Entering the hospital he is reunited with Dr. Ransome, who embraces and inspects Jim wearing a US army shirt, before informing him that his parents were waiting for him.

Chapter 34 Summary - Ashley Layer

Jim eats the mango slowly and wishes he could attach himself to the pilot and run errands for him. There might be more food. Then in a few days he could be strong enough to walk to Shanghai, the Americans will have arrived and he could present the kamikaze pilot to them as his friend. The American are generous people and will ignore the small matter of the suicide attacks. Then, later, the Japanese might teach him to fly. Jim is almost drunk on the mango's juice.

Jim hears an American bomber overhead, a Superfortress. Flying low it opens it bomb bays and drops silver cylinders on the ground. One breaks open and Jim finds it filled with canned food and cigarettes - Spam, Klim, Nescafe, chocolate bars, and magazines. Jim grabs all the frozen items, and thinks ahead for the first time in days by taking the cigarettes.

He hears the familiar sound of a rifle shot, so instantaneously ducks for cover. He then watches as Private Kimaru is shot dead by a group of Europeans. When they leave, Jim has some of the gradually defrosting food to eat and plans what to do next.

Chapter 38- The road to Shanghai

Jim rode with Tulloch and Lieutenant Price on the Shanghai road while searching for canisters of supplies. They were leaving Lunghua and Jim realised that he had once again been imprisoned by the camp. Jim searched for the young Kamikaze pilot as they swerved along the mud track to the stadium. Price and Tulloch left Jim and went towards the stadium in search of things to take whilst drunk. Jim stayed near the truck and thought about Mr Maxted. He then read Reader's Digest as a few Mustang fighters flew overhead ready to drop more supplies. He then saw armed men scattering from the tunnel of the stadium in panic with Nationalist Soliders following. The soldiers fired and soon Tulloch lay in the white dust near the entrance. Lieutenant Price leapt over the perimeter wall and into the flooded paddy field. Jim went towards the Opel and decided that it was too dangerous to drive it to Shanghai so he would walk. He was about to get some supplies from inside when he seized by the soldiers and then punched to the ground. With a bloody nose he pleaded with the chinese coolie holding a stave that he was a British Prisoner from Lunghua. Basie then came over and looked at the supplies and as Jim recognised him he told Basie about the new words he had learnt from the magazines he had been reading and keeping for Basie

Chapter 31-The Empire of the Sun

The prisoners are marching from the prison camp and have spent the night in an empty sports stadium. Jim sees the cars of the Allies taken by the Japanese and thinks they have come to collect their owners to take them home. however, he sees that this is just a mirage and returns to massaging Mr Maxted in an effot to keep him alive. Jim decides to stay with Mr Maxted instead of joining the other prisoners in their march. Jim becomes something of a "Chinese coolie running at the command of his European masters" to the other prisoners that have stayed behind, giving them water to drink. They then see a glare in the sky that is the atomic bomb. Mr Maxted's last act is to prevent Jim from going with the final prisoners.

Alexia