Chapter one - sorry i didn't see what ones people had done because i had to write it on paper... :)

Georgina Bray
This is an effective and powerful first chapter in the novel: Empire of the Sun. It sets the scene by strongly portraying the contrasts in Shanghai at the time of Pearl Harbour. It shows the different lives moveing from the serene boys choir to the terrors of war that they watch in the cathedral, to the chinese beggars on the streets that the english expacts see themselves so so much above. Displaying such a wide and clashing variety of lifestyles creates an unsettled feel to the novel, setting the mood for the story that is to follow. This is also demonstrated in Jim's dreams: "thinking of his unsettled dreams." This shows how the war eve effexts the children whom are arguably most protected from war on the other side of the world in thier sheltered lives.

Chapter One - Abi Sears

The first chapter of Empire of the Sun paints a picture of Shangai in war for the reader and also describes the way that Jim's dreams are beginning to only be about the war which may be because of all the war films that are being shown at the time. Jim gets himself prepared to a Christmas fancy dress party and manages to persuade and convince his seventeen year old governess to accompany him to the party so that she can see her parents, his parents can eat dinner and he will be allowed to roam around the house by himself during the party.
The war extremely worries Jim's parents and they do not like the idea of Jim talking in a violent way and therefore punish him when he says that he will kill Amah if he touches his BB gun.
His parents say that they do not think Jim should be allowed to take his BB gun to the party as it is not a particularly sensible thing to do in a time of war so they encourage him to take his aeroplane instead. Jim notices how exhausted and worried his father is and how he seems to be in a rush to spend time with Jim and how he is making plans for things that aren't due to happen until way into the future (eg: Jim's university) as though he fears that he will not be able to discuss them at another time, at a later date. This concerns Jim so he decides to obey his father and take his aeroplane to the party instead of his BB gun. On the way to the party, Jim is pleased to see that the other Europeans in Shanghai are all leaving for the party as well.

Chapter 37- Becky Neylon

A Reserved Room

American bomber planes had been flying over the camp where Jim was, these planes woke Jim up from where he had been sleeping, in the bed that had belonged to Mrs Vincent when she'd been in the camp.
Tulloch and Lieutenant Price had become annoyed because American planes had started to drop off the goods in the fields surrounding the camp.
Jim was waiting for the American navy to make an appearance but he believed that the Americans feared that the Japanese wouldn't surrender and that it wouldn't be safe for him to be looking for his parents.
Jim has started to spend time in the American sergeant's office, sorting out magazines. The food in the camp has greatly improved, Jim now has access to chocolate bars, spam and powdered milk, which are gradually building his strength.
Scavengers are beginning to appear outside the camp- Chinese peasants and coolies, tempted by the goods dropped by the Americans. There were also troops walking the streets who had deserted Chinese armies.
Parts of the airfield have been occupied by Nationalist troops and Japanese soldiers were being killed everyday.
Jim becomes unsettled at the sight of a dead Japanese airman and as a result decides to stay inside the camp- spending his nights sleeping in Mrs Vincent's bunk and sorting out his magazine collection during the day.
Jim had noticed that the Americans had been dropping cargo off much less often and realises eventually will stop completely so he begins to stock up on food.
Previous camp prisoners return and they are denied entry but eventually are allowed in.
Jim believes that there is or will be World War 3 and that if you're inside the camp then you are free. He also still has hope that his parents will return along with other people coming back to the camp.
At the end of the chapter Tulloch tells Jim that he needs to find his father because the war is over and that he, Tulloch, will give Jim a lift back to Shanghai.

Chapter 11 Frank and Basie- Holly Rathbone

This is the first part of the book where a significant character comes in the the book- Basie. He is an american sailor, stranded with his partner in Shanghai awaiting for when they get enough money to catch a sampan (a boat) to Chungking. They are were homeless, however living in a shack and eating simple things like rice. Jim latched onto Frank who then leads him to Basie who takes him in. It maybe the familiar English language that entices jim in the frist place more than anything or that he was just so hungry that every chance he got to confront someone he would with the slight hope of finding his parents or food. He also stuck with Frank and Basie because these were the first people to not push him away or hurt him.
At the start of the chapter Ballard describes Jim's surroundings in Frank and Basie's shack. The first thing he describes is the 'charcoal stove burning softly in the centre of the cabin', he may be describing this first as this is the frist warm, homely or reassuring thing that Jim has seen in a while. The floor is scattered with oily parts and tools, and Frank, who is quite impatient and easily wound up (this is the readers first impressions of him), says that he is getting annoyed with Jim already and stared at him 'gloomily'. Basie, who shows himself as we progress more through the book as more of a fatherly figure and someone to look up to towards Jim, invites him in to ly down. The reader also realises however that he also maybe doing this to aggravate Frank futher. It is clear that they do not have much money as Frank says that merchants cost 10 dollar for one bag of rice. They feed Jim rice and he gives Basie the last of his liquer chocolates, Frank looses his temper and syas that the Japanese will come for them as Jim had been sitting on the pier for two days. We then learn that Basie maybe also keeping Jim for the purpose of learnin things from him as we know he finds that Jim goes to a very good school and that he has fairly important parents. Through Jims eyes we can see that he finds Basie 'curiously reassuring' and that he has an attentive manner that mkes jim feel safe. They eat the rice that Frank cooks on the stove and Basie gives Jim advice that he has to put aside one new word every day as you could never know when they become useful. This shows that Basie does find Jim interesting. Ballard then points out that boys like Jim would have been brought up to never meet people like Basie and Frank, but the war had changed everything. this shows a turning point in the story where Jim had a very privaledged upbringing and had a lot of curtesy to his life with Basie where he slowly become more rough around the edges but still keeps his intelligence. When Jim finds Basie this gives him a chance to be a child again as he is not looking affter himself all the time and has someone to rely on. This part of the story is symbolic for hope for Jim as he is not his own anymore or isolated from everyone else. The imapct on the reader is great in this particular chapter as things are looking up for Jim and some of the worry that was there at first for him has disappeared.
Holly Rathbone 11B

Lieutenant Price by Dan Atlee

Lieutenant Price is intrdoduced in the book when Jim ventures back to Langhua camp after leaving the stadium in Shanghai. He comes across as a very violent, even possessed man. he screams at Mr Tulloch to 'Lock those gates...Throw him Out!' and even though Tulloch knows Jim, he insists that he 'Get rid of him!' most of Prices sentences contain exclaimation points, which suggests that he is a very desperate man, and always wanted to be heard and possibly in charge. he implies that the chinese peasants are stealing from him, when he says 'Tulloch...They're stealing our spam!' this again shows that he is desparate, and will do almost anything to get what he wants and to survive in Japanese territory.
Ballard sums price up a few good sentences. 'Price slammed the gate in thier faces. Everything around him, the camp, the empty paddy fields, even the sun, seemed to anger him' Price seems to use his anger to his advantage, which helps to push him on in the short time that he is in the story, before he is shot at the stadium while attempting to steal fur coats.

Summary of Chapter 33 - The Kamikaze Pilot - Sian Thompson

Jim stood by the concrete blockhouse that gaurded the parking lot. Jim knew that he was too weak to walk to Shanghai and there would be too many dangers on the open road, like the platoon of Chinese puppet soldiers just up the road. He set off towards Lunghua Airfield instead. He followed the verge, walking between the ruins that war had left, including a dead Chinese soldier and pack-horse.
He left the road when it turned off towards the Nantao docks, and walked through the flooded fields. He climbed through a wired fence and went to an abandoned aicraft. Jim listened for a noise of hacksaws or cutting equipment, but the air was empty and silent. he stopped under the tailplane of a Zero fighter. It had been destroyed by cannon fire, but Jim still felt the magic of it as he had watched them taking off from the runway he had helped to build. He peered into the cockpit at the dials trim wheels.
Jim walked between the plane ruins, and imagined them flying in his head. He sat to rest, waiting for the Americans to arrive. He heard a noise and before he could hide, a Japanese airman stood infront of him - he gazed at the aircraft. Jim attempted to camouflage himself, and noticed that this Hapanese pilot-officer was still a teenager, and was just as starved as himself. He noticed Jim then walked off.
Jim wondered whether the Japanese had a secret weapon prepared. Jim repeated his thoughts on how young this pilot was, and how only a short time ago he would have been a schoolboy. Jim began to follow the pilot. When the pilot saw two soldiers gaurding a rifle pit, he beckoned Jim to him. They stood together and the pilot admired Jim. Flies tapped at the pilot's lips and reminded Jim of the flies that covered Mr Maxted.
He wondered whether they knew that this pilot should have died in an attack on the American carriers at Okinawa.The Japanese threw his wooden stake into the nettles, and got out a small mango. Jim forced himself not to eat. The pilot waved Jim towards the perimeter fence.

Main Theme - Sian Thompson

One main theme in Empire of the Sun, is how Jim's relationship and reliability on his parents changes dramatically throughout the book.
At the beginning of the story, Jim seems entirely dependent on his parents, as he has grown up as part of such a pampered, fortunate lifestyle, with his parents always being there with him and caring for him. He never had the need to be self-reliant, as there were always other people around to look after him and help him in life. He had always had a very close, stable relationship with his parents, and so the idea of having to cope without them had never even occured to him - especially as he was at such a young, naive age. But after losing his parents on the day of the attack at Pearl Harbor, things changed. He began having to do things for himself, and care for his own well-being, and use his own initiative to keep himself alive. He soon realises that his parents won't be coming back, and so he needs to learn to survive by himself, without the pampered, caring lifestyle he's so used to. He grows in mental strength, and gains knowledge which helps him along the way. He learns that to survive, he must co-operate with the Japanese, as if he were to die - they would be the ones that kill him.
As he is fully aware that he is attempting to do as much as he can to stay alive without the help of his parents - he becomes self-reliable, and attatches himself to people who he has worked out will keep him as far away from death as possible, as he knows this is his only hope.

Empire of the sun- Main theme.

One main theme and focus of Empire Of the Sun is Jim's maturation from child to man during World War II. After the war begins and he is separated from his parents, he spends the remainder of the book trying to reunite with them and survive alone, finding himself in difficult situations. This is ironic as before he lived such a pampered, mollycoddled lifestyle. In the book it shows Jim adapting to different circumstances and progressing in maturity and initiative. He learns to survive the brutal conditions he faces and as a result of these experiences, he learns important lessons about himself and human nature. Perhaps if he'd had his parents with him he would have coped worse as he'd have had his mum and dad there to help him and do everything for him, like before. Whereas without his parents, he has been thrown into a stressful situation that demands initiative and maturity for any chance of survival. The whole focus of the story is showing Jim's coming of age and emotional intelligence.

Tash Beaumont :)

a theme within the book. alix

One theme within empire of the sun is the irony that Jim has to learn to live like the Chinese, in deprivation, when before, he didnt even realise what they were going through and would never have dreamed that he'd end up in their situation. This was becasue he lived such rich life before the war, and was spoilt to the extent that he was oblivious of anything other than his own pampered lifestyle. This is also quite ironic because he always had access to the news.

"Jim was glad when the newsreels were over, " tells us that Jim took it for granted and chose not to pay close attention. Had he done so however, he wouldve had a small insight into a world in which he was about to enter himself.

chapter 39 summary alix

Chapter 39 - the bandits.

Jim is in a car with Basie and some other people. They are a gang and there are about 8 of them in this car with tonnes of explosives and weapons. The leader of the gang is chinese and he doesnt appear to like Jim and doesnt let him go and do favours for him because he seems to hold a grudge against him, maybe because he is british. The chinese dont seem to accept him even after the british helped defeat the japanese with the americans. Basie doesnt seem to care about Jim that much, and jim doesnt fit in that well. He seems to make several revelations about the war and reflects on his own experience a lot in the middle of the chapter. The car makes various stops and the chapter ends with explosion and everyone running for their lives...

Chapter 15 Summary - Alice Collett

The day the Englishwoman died the detention center received new prisoners. Jim eyed her mess tin and tennis shoes. Jim noticed the allied prisoners had better shoes than the Japanese and that dead bodies left the center with bare feet. At the new arrivals, Jim anxiously and hopefully waited to be picked to leave. He licked his fingers and wiped the soot from his face but was passed over again. Basie was chosen to leave and immediately put his arms around the two boys who had just lost their mother. Jim called out to Basie who had already lost interest in him. Jim realised that soon, he would die from some kind of disease like most of the other prisoners. The new woman arrivals took over the cooking of the rice and Jim knew he would not get his fair share again.

The driver of the truck spread the map across the truck, shrugging hopelessly at the maze of streets. Jim could see that neither the driver or Sergeant Uchida knew where Woosung was. The driver sat in his cabin as Sergeant Uchida launched a tirade of abuse at him. Unimpressed, the driver was pointed randomly to a cobbled street with a disused tramline. Jim took advantage of the situation, shouting out the directions, and ignoring blows from Sergeant Uchida, worked his way to the side of the truck. The sergeant, tired of Jim, seized him with both hand and threw him into the truck. Jim ignored the stench of the truck and his bloody mouth as he steadied himself against the pitching roof, just happy to be on his way to his parents again.

Chapter 34 - Izzie Davison

Jim eats the mango the pilot gave to him while outside Lungha camp, thinking about how he could trade work for magos and flying lessons from the pilot. American bombers fly over the airfield, droping canopies. Jim investigates the parachutes and is confused at the amount of american food spilled onto the feild. Collecting some, and retreating to a safe hiding place before a shot is fired and two Japanese appear, on of which is Private Kimura. After ten paces, the Private is shot but a group of europeans, one with a rifle. The europeans then collected the food in the parachute and took it back to the Lungha camp. Jim watches as Private Kimura slowly gathers a pool of blood around him in the paddy feild. Before eating his spam and dried milk while watching the American bombers drop more canopies over Shanghai.

Chapter 20 Lunghua Camp- KAtie Sadler

jim has been at Lunghua camp for three years and so has become acustomed to the routins in the camp, during the past three years jim has grown up and has learned to fend for himself making new friends within the camp and continuing to help Basie, one of Basie's jobs are for jim to set up pheasant traps on the other side of the wire fence, that he has to continually check and re-set eventhough he knows that it is unlikely to catch anything. whilst on the other side of the fence jim picks up a turtle to cook and eat later as food is scarce in the camp and jim is always deperate for more food. in this chapter you learn about the camp and the `day to day running of the camp and the layout and the fact that JIm would always know what was going on. the authour describes how the english residents had put up street names to remind them of London however as he describes they had just given themselves an excuse to retreat within themselves. jim befriends some tweleve year olds and shows them the turtle calling it a bomb , however jim has chosen to spend more time with Basie and Dr Ransome, however now and again he would re-enter his boy childhood. he states thathe did still dream of his faces but could no longer remember their faces

Chapter 24 - The Hospital - By Ellie Izzard

The chapter starts with a small description of Dr Ransome and the effect the the years in Lunghua have had on him. Dr Ransome calls Jim for his assistance, so Jim leaved the balcony where he had been watching the burning pilot in the fields. Jim says to Dr Ransome that he was nearly killed, a thought that doesn't seem to shock Jim. The air raid had made Dr Ransome unsettled but he did not take it out on Jim, but spoke to him calmly reminding him that they agreed he should not go up to the balcony during the air raids. Although Jim was up there to try to signal to the American pilots, this is the exact opposite of what Dr Ransome wanted him to be doing. Jim kew this and therefore changed the subject that he has done his Latin prep, a fact that was irrelevant at the time.
They both walked back to the hospital and passed E block where Sergeant Nagata was shouting at the inhabitants, showing that as the years of the war had passed the Japanese had become 'unsettles and dangerous.' Jim questioned Dr Ransome whether the Americans would land at Woosung, the conversation evolved to whether the Japanese would fight them because Dr Ransome mentions that they are the bravest soldiers. However Jim has realised over the years of the war that bravery doesn't matter. The talk ot the war angered Dr Ransome and Jim could tell that he resented him for the fact he was taking enjoyment from it, as if Dr Ramsome blamed him for the air raids.
Jim saw the cone of an air craft shell on the floor and picked it up, but Dr Ransome quickly took it from him amd threw it away as he cared for Jim and protected him, althought Jim was too curious to noctice the gesture of kindness.
They entered the hospital and waited for Sergeant Nagata to do the roll call. Jim looked around the hospital at all the dying patients, questioning why they would come here when there was no medicine left and little chance they would be cured. Sergeant Nagata observed them as Jim was spying what he could trade with Bassie from the dying patients for food, which the Sergeant dissaproved of. Jims mind wandered while the roll call took place to the thought og a hidden American pilot in the hospital, before being snapped back to attention by Mrs Philips, and stood in line for another hour. He thought back to the air raid and that one day he may be a pilot, Jim longed for the next air raid because of the excitement the war gave him.

Chapter 10, the stranded freighter by Laurie Horner

Jim reaches the river and studies the scene he sees there. He looks at the buildings on the other side of the river and remembers his life before the war, which makes him realise how war had 'changed everything in [his] world so radically'. He gets a bit dillusional and starts to imagine the ship Idzumo as a cake that we would like to eat, which suggests he is very hungry. He seems very happy to see the ship, as if it's very most important thing in his world, which shows how much he has been caught up in the war.
For the next two days he stays at the waterfront in the hope that he will find a European or American that might be able to help him find his parents, but with no luck. he spends long periods of time wandering along the riverside, looking at the remaining ships, at the markets and quays and seaplanes and anything else that resides along the river, and sleeps in the back of the abandoned taxis. He tries to keep himself as healthy as possible.
He decides to acheive one of his dreams and go aboard the Idzumo while he has the chance, again hoping that he may be able to find his parents by doing. He gets excited by this and imagines himself as the Captain of the ship. As he is making his way, he notices a man in an American sailors clothes standing outside a house and a younger man rowing next ot the Idzumo in a dinghy. He acts surprisingly friendly towards them, and pictures them as 'his first passenger and crewman'. As he boards the ship, the sailor rows closer to him, asks him what he is up to, and then offers to help, which Jim accepts. This Shows Jim is still naive and immature because he doesn't know if he's safe, but it shows the desperation of his situation, because he is so pleased to meet an ally that he is willing to accept his help without seconds thoughts.
The sailor (frank) rows him back to shore and into his collier, which reminds Jim of his home. He feels quite positive about meeting the americans, because they increase his chance of finding his parents and getting out of Shanghai.
By the end of chapter 10, things are looking up for Jim. He appears to have found an ally, but the reader would be aprehensive about the situation because we don't much about Frank and Basie.

Summary of Chapter 9 - An End to Kindness, Ed Parry

Jim searches the houses of Colombia Road for food and water, finding only left over party/cocktail food. He also plays in the lavish houses, in their games rooms and bedrooms. Jim reads magazines in the bedrooms and finds himself feeling empty as he sees the toy cupboards in the children's rooms. As the water on Colombia Road has been turned off, Jim has had to drink the dripping water from the roof tanks that makes him ill. He barely recognizes himself when he looks in the mirrors and he sees a boy half the size, and twice the age.

One afternoon Jim sees a group of Japanese soldiers cooking a meal in an empty swimming pool. He is watched as he walks towards them and sits on the edge of the swimming pool. The kind Japanese soldiers give him the ends of their meal and the warm food brings Jim to tears. Realising that Jim was starving the soldier gives him water as well.

For the next week Jim stayed with the Japanese, met them each morning and ran errands for them. Almost always they left him a little food and he very quickly became dependant on them.

One morning the kind Japanese soldiers failed to appear. He waited patiently until the verandah doors opened behind him. Different Japanese soldiers stepped onto the terrace and called him over. The corporal hit him on the head and pushed him around the flower beds. Shouting at him in German, he threw Jim into the drive.

Finally, as Jim set out to the Bund, he thought of the kind Japanese soldiers who had fed him, and realised that kindness counted for nothing.

character- Frank Danielle Gipps

frank is the loyal second-hand man of Basie who Jim is found by, after he settles on the stranded freighter.

• although he seems stubborn he follows Basie's every word like he owes Basie for something, however he does not enjoy the fact that Basie wants to keep Jim, even if it is just to sell at market
• he dislikes change, and tries to avoid it. for instance when Jim is told to stay with them, frank wants no change to his sleeping arrangement, or too the amounts he is able to eat and the time he eats it
• he is almost like an employee of Basie, although he is not getting paid in money but paid in shelter and food, which is bought using the money they receive selling items at market.
• frank, i think, doesn't care where these items come from, he is jut interested by their resell value at market. for instance, he had no problem picking gold teeth out of dead and rotting Chinese, as the Chinese seemed to always have at least one gold tooth
• although he dislikes Jim, like Basie he is intrigued in his upper class upbringing and is keen to hear about the houses and the food and the parties. maybe this is because that is the life that frank is so desperate to have but just cant have

chapter summary- the air raid Danielle Gipps

- after stealing another potato after dinner he goes up the the balcony of the assembly hall to eat it in privacy and to complete his Latin homework which Dr ransome sets him. whilst doing this he often admires the Japanese airfield just outside the camp and watches the rituals as the suicide pilots prepare to fly. however this is disturbed when a loud drone fills the air and shots are fired at the airfield. Jim recognises the drone as that of an American mustang fighter plan. he suddenly fills with excitement as the mustangs fly lower and lower above him, Jim making hand signals and waving at them as they fire at the Japanese. anti-air weapons on the Japanese air-field and aircraft are able to fire at the flames sending two planes up in a blaze of flames and smoke. one carrying its pilot, the other allowing him to escape. however this time the assemble hall had to been hit covering Jim in rubble and dirt. not knowing whether he had passed out or not, he heard the voice of Dr ransome calling him, asking whether he was okay and saying that they needed to register. there was always a few deaths in an air raid, from both shock and exhaustion and injuries. Jim could see when walking with Dr ransome, that one man was close to death and Jim was admiring his gold looking ring, wondering whether he woukd be the first the acquire it after the death of the man. after deaths Jim would often take valuable possessions and give them to the Japanese in exchange for a belt or a pair of braces, although Dr ransome objected to the idea of grave robbing. sergeant negates was always obsessed with how many prisoners the camp held and why he continually repeated the roll call, Jim was able to fill with excitement as he replayed the air raid over in him mind.

Chapter 9 - Kate Millington

In order to find food Jim moves on from deserted house to deserted house, staying a few days at each one and moving on once he had eaten all the available cocktail food, aware, but helpless of the fact, that he cannot go on doing this forever. Jim has lost alot of weight and is knows that he is ill, some days he has to just lie down all day, to sick to move. One afternoon he comes across a group of Japanese soldiers in the garden of a house he was planning on moving on to. The Japanese watched Jim as they prepared their food but did not go to pick up their rifles, yet Jim knew he should not run from them. So he sat down on the tiles on the edge of the pool and watched them eat and when they had finished one of them scraped out the remains from the pot and handed jim his mess tin. Jim devoured his first hot meal since the hospital and drank the water they gave him. These men showed kindness and friendliness towards Jim and he followed them for the next week as they patrolled the streets, attaching himself to them first thing every morning and running errands for them. More of the houses had been occupied by Japanese soldiers and civilians so Jim was very dependant on the soldiers for food. One morning because the Japanese soldiers didn't appear Jim waited patiently in the garden, watched the planes and counted 3 liquer choclates he had saved. Japanese soldiers of new patrol then turned up waving and shouting at Jim and when he ran towards them the coparal cuffed him and threw him into the drive and slammed the gates. He thinks as he walks the long journey to the bund and realises that kindness counts for nothing.

Mr Maxted - Kate Millington

• Was an english architect and entrepeneur living in Shanghai who designed various nightclubs throughout the city before the war. He was, therefore, very wealthy and lived a very luxurious lifestyle.
• For Jim Mr Maxted represents his life and Shaghai before the war such as the wealthy and carefree life, the parties which Mr Maxted and Jim and his parents attended and the fact that, being british, they were superior and had people working for them. Mr Maxted is the only person in the camp who knew Jim's parents and, despite the fact Jim prefers not to speak of them this is probaly something Jim does not want to lose. When they lived in Shanghai Jim looked up to Mr Maxted and wanted to be like him when he grew up, because of this he helps him in the camp. The change in Mr Maxted from before to during the war represents the affect the war had and how it was changing everything, ruining lives and tearing people down.
• Mr Maxted's very relaxed personality which Jim tries to imitate helped him to adapt well to life in Shanghai, however, when he goes to the camp he has alot more trouble adapting. This is probably largely to do with the fact that he previously lived a very luxurious lifestyle being wealthy and respected. 'The Studebaker and the afternoon girls in the gambling casinos had prepared Mr Maxted badly for the world of the camp.' The camp must have been a big culture shock for Mr Maxted after the comforts of his life in Shanghai, not only because of the lack of luxuries but also because he wasn't used to being restricted or not being treated with respect by others. For Mr Maxted the war caused major role reversal within his life.
• In Shanghai Mr Maxted greatly enjoys the comforts of alcohol, 'Forever accompanied by the same glass of whisky and soda' which cause him to frequently 'fall' into (full) swimming pools at parties. This could account for a big change in personality when he's at the camp as he's deprived of alcohol which could have had a big hand in his relaxed personality and helped him stay cheerful.
• In the camp Mr Maxted is very weak and sometimes unsteady, he seems to have aged to a frail old man since before the war. However he doesn't see this as a reason to sit back and do nothing so he does what he can such as collecting rations which, for him, requires great effot, 'Some work and some watch, and that's all there is too it.' He's an educated man and seems to have a realsitic, if not slightly pessimistic view of the implications of the war and it's end. He contemplates that the war ending may be the begginning of their troubles not the end and when he questions Jim he seems quite philosophical, 'will the war really end for you, Jim?'

Mrs.Vincent - Evelyn

• Mrs Vincent is a very strange character and it is difficult to get a concept of her real personality. At one moment she is horrible to Jim - failing to care for him when he gets pneumonia - and she is a silent woman who stares at the walls, her plate, Jim's shoes...and yet she still helps Jim with his Latin homework, teaching him with cockiness 'the distinction between gerunds and gerundives.' This surprises the reader, maybe it is showing she has mood swings? If this is the case, it probably implies she is still relatively young.

• Mrs Vincent does not like Jim. This could be because he is a reminder of what she used to be like when she was young, fit and active. For instance when Jim offers his bed to her to sleep on, and he tries to reach her shoulder, 'her distracted eyes could come to a remarkably sharp focus'. I think the way Jim assumes she wants to rest aggravates her - she is not old and frail, she still feels young inside. Furthermore, the way she does not want him to touch her could imply that she is/was used to other men doing that to her pre-war when she was obviously handsome and she does not like the way a 14 year old boy is trying the same technique.

• Mrs Vincent is a very quiet and subdued lady. Whenever she speaks, somehow Ballard implies she slowly and carefully picks each word before saying it aloud: '"You're late, Jim,"' she uses very short simple sentences to get her message across quickly and successfully.

• Mrs Vincent misses her pre-war life. She stares at the whitewashed wall consistently and Jim refers to it as her 'watching invisible films'. At one point, Jim tries to guess what she is watching - 'herself back in England before she was married, sitting on one of those sunlit lawns'. The word 'sunlit' automatically gives the scene a dreamy and perfect illusion so the reader assumes this means she is missing her previous world and life before the war, before her marriage.

• Mrs Vincent understands and excepts the fact that the war will not and cannot go on forever, so she silently waits each day for the war to get ever closer to it's end and on the way just makes sure she lives each day. Just over half way through the novel, Mr Vincent confronts Jim and tries to stop him from replacing the turtle under his bunk and Mrs Vincent just 'watched without expression as her husband sat on his bed, staring in his desperate way'. Mr Vincent would evidently likes some reassurance ('desperate') but the fact Mrs Vincent does not provide him with any shows she really could not care less for a turtle being trapped in a box day after day. Since she does not show any sympathy towards the turtle, it implies the war bores her and she cannot be bothered to waste her efforts in a camp she expects to be rid of soon enough. It is as though she knows this is just one chapter in her life, and she does not feel the need to try at anything while she is there because she knows her life will have plenty more interesting enough events to come, even if one of those events is her own death.

Chapter 36 - THE FLIES - Evelyn

Jim explores the now empty Lunghua Camp, viewing himself from Mrs.Vincent's angle in their old room at one point. As he enters the hospital, flies envelop his face and Jim sees the flies chewing at the flesh and guts of the deceased patients. Jim leaves and is about to eat some tomatoes when he remembers his fear that his soul had died at Nantao, and so he wonders if feeding his body will engorge it like the corpses in the hospital. Instead, Jim feasts on his spam on the assembly hall balcony while overlooking the barter between wine and cigarette's. While the Britons get drunk, Jim thinks about those who have died and after choosing to ignore the rowdy Price, Jim rests his gaze on the young Japanese pilot searching the derelict aircraft, stick in hand, 400 yards away on the airfield runway.

Dr Ransome by Katie Rees

• Dr Ransome is a physician and it is clear that he takes looking after Jim very seriously because he looks after Jim when he is ill and even gives him some of his food.
• He has changed a lot since Jim first met him, he was once a strong young man with a lot of red hair but now he has shrunk and is very thin.
• He enjoys passing on his knowledge and teaching Jim latin, maths and science, although sometimes he finds jim irksome.
• He is kind because he looks after the two ladies on the way to the camp, keeps an eye on Jim and tries to look after people in the hospital when there is nothing he can do to help them.
• People seem to respect and he seems quite authorative because when he askes people to do something they do it.

Chapter 29 - The March to Nantao by Katie Rees

In this chapter the prisoners being kept at Lunghua Camp are forced to march to the dockyards at Nantao. Before they even start to march the prisoners are exhausted and it is clear that some of them will die on the way. They are all carrying one suitcase and Jim is bemused by the fact that so many of the prisoners have packed objects for recreational activities such as: tennis rackets and cricket bats. However, once they start walking these objects along with their suitcases are slowly dropped as the prisoners get tireder and tireder in their malnourised condition. There are new Japanese soldiers looking after them and to Jim these are the strongest men he has ever seen during the war. As they walk Jim tries to stay near the Japanese trucks and he is annoyed when Mr Maxsted catches up with him and he realises that he is going to have to look after Mr Maxsted on the way and he knows it will be hard enough to keep himself going. It gets harder and harder the further they walk and Jim is relieved when they stop by a river. Kindly, Mrs Philips gives Jim a potato to eat and in return Jim talks to her about God. After resting for so long Jim is tempted to stay lying in the sun and die where he his, but Mr Maxsted pulls him to his feet and they continue on their journey to Nantao and Jim reflects on how death nearly had him.

John Graham (Jim's father) Jenny Holmes

• Jim's father is a role model for Jim. When he goes to help the soldiers Jim follows despite his father warning him to stay where he is.
• Although we don't see much of him at the beginnig our first impressions of him are that he is strong and important particually in his job.
• He tries to remain calm under pressure and appears selfless when he helps the others.
• He fears and looks out for the safety of Jim and his mother.
• He is serious about his work and we can see this as he has moved his family to follow his work.

Jim by Bex Hill

1. To start with Jim lives a rich life, going to a private school, driven by a chauffeur and attending pool parties, cocktails and nice dinners.
"as he rode home in his parents' Packard. Yang, the fast-talking chaffeur, had once worked as an extra in a locally made film,"
"Lowering the window, Yang lashed with his leather riding crop at the thoughtless pedestrians"

This shows us that Jim was rich as he had a chaffeur to drive him around and his parents had a Packard. It also shows the wealth when the chaffeur has a riding crop to whip pedestrians. This shows how the less fortunate were treated by the rich.

2. He is very interested in aircrafts and he likes to find out all the names of them and then name the ones he sees.
"'Mitsubishi... Zero-Sen...ah...Nakajima...ah...'
Jim lay in his cot and listened to the young Japanese Soldier call out the names of the aircraft flying over the hospital."
"He thought of the American aircraft he had seen in the clouds above Shanghai."
"But Jim was glad that the Mustangs were so close. His eyes feasted on every rivet in their fuselages on the gun ports in their wings, on the huge ventral radiators that Jim was sure had been put there for reasons of style alone."
"I've seen American planes, Curtiss bombers and Boeings"

From this we can tell that Jim's hobby and his main focus is in planes as he has learnt many of the names of the planes, American and Japanese. He dreams about them and when he was at a party he sat in a plane near the aerodrome. He also had model aircrafts in his bedroom and he used to take one round with him and play with it. It shows that he also took an interest in the war because he liked to name both the American and Japanese aircrafts. He is also interested in the beauty of the planes, and the style of them.

3. The life he has to live during the war is very different to the life he lived before and he has to endure illness, starvation and poverty.
"Jim knew that most of the inmates of the detention centre had been sent there because they were very old or were expected to die, either of dynsentery and typhoid, or whatever fever he and Private Blake had caught from the foul water."
"We should eat the weevils...we need the protein"
"The already modest food ration had been cut to a single meal each day."
"with knobbed shoulders and birdcage ribs"
"He ate every scrap he could find, aware of the rising numbers of deaths from beri beri and malaria."

We can tell from this that many of the prisoners that were with Jim in the camps died of diseases and although Jim had caught a fever, he had not yet died. We can also see that his life is different in the sense that before, he could have whatever food was in his house and even when his parents had gone and he was wandering around Shanghai alone he was still eating pretty well until the food had run out. But he was even eating the weevils to give him more protein as they only ate a sweet potato and some cracked wheat a day. All the prisoners were starving and were mal-nutritioned which led to illness and their death.

4.He is quite a lively boy and likes to talk and think a lot.
"Jim...! Stop thinking...!"
"Both agreed that he sould never miss a class, if only, Jim suspected, to give themsleves a break from his restless energy."

I think the fact that Jim is young and wants to know about the world and is really interested in planes and the war makes him a bit of a handful and a bit of a pain. He is not depressed like many of the other prisoners although he is starved and probably ill in some way. He has a lot of energy and does many jobs for other people to help out. He thinks about planes a lot of the time and sometimes day dreams about it. He is very chatty and likes to know things so he asks a lot of questions but alos tells a lot of stories and facts to other people.

5. Jim faces reality as he knows that he may not be able to see his parents for a while and he may not recognise them.
"This unknown English couple...had almost become his mother and father. Jim knew that they were complete strangers, but he kept the pretence alive, so that in turn he could keep alive the lost memory of his parents."
"To his surprise he felt a moment of regret, of sadness that his quest for his mother and father would soon be over. As long as he searched for them he was prepared to be hungry and ill."

To start with, as soon as he has lost his parents he is on a desperate search to get back to them and he thinks that he will be sent to the same camp as them. He then realises that he may not be able to see them for a long time and he starts to forget what they look like. He has a picture in his bunk in Lunghua of a British couple and they remind him of his parents. I think that he starts to mature during the story as he is growing older so he realises that things are not very simple and his parents could be a long way away from him and that he may never get to see them or it may be a long time and they might not recognise him.

chapter 8 summary jenny holmes

Chapter 8 is about how Jim continues to survive on his own, and is therefore very descriptive and has no speech. Because Jim is unable to surrender he goes back to the Maxteds' appartment to sleep in his friends bed and ration himself on their food. He is deserted and alone and the only person he sees is the women living in the penthouse who he ignores when she knocks at the door. Jim fixes his bike so that he can revisit the city as it is too far to walk. When he revisits Shanghai he notices how it has changed since he was last there; there were now thousands of Japanese soldiers patrolling and the bodies of the dead Chinese lay at the sides of the streets. Many shops had closed and the lonliness Jim feels unsettles him. The road to Jim's father's office was shut off.
Jim goes back and still wants to surrender. He is kicked out of the Maxteds' appartment and finds another house whose food he can survive off of. All Jim finds in the house he chooses is some condensed milk.

Setting Analysis- Shanghai After the War- Lucy Oliva

From Chapter 42, you receive a great insight into what the area is like after the war has ended:

1.The city appears to be full of life again, a far cry from the war-zone it had become just two months prior to Jim's return.

• "Below them was the Shanghai Bund, and all the clamour of the gaudy night'
• "...jostling among the trams and limousines, the jeeps and trucks of the US military, and a horde of rickshaws and pedicabs"

The in-depth description paints a picture for the reader, showing that Shanghai was once again a booming city.

2. The three cinema screens in Shanghai that had been set up allowed locals to get a glimpse of the war from an outside prospective, with the description of these screens and the way they were set up giving the reader an image of what it was really like.

• "Dominating this panorama of the Shanghai night were three cinema screens which had been set up on scaffolding along the Bund."
• "...and looked up at the trembling images, which were barely strong enough to hold their own against the neon signs and strip lighting on the hotel and nightclub facades."

These descriptions seems to suggest that the screens were not seen as very important to many people, with the advertising of hotels and nightclubs more noticeable and eye catching. You do not get a clear idea of how many people actually payed attention to the newsreels, but this would indicate that many overlooked them.

3. Amherst Avenue was now an unfamiliar place to Jim, not the home he had spent his childhood in. This new unfamiliarity shows how much the war changed him and how it was likely that nothing would ever be the same again.

• "... on the top floor of the unreal house in Amherst Avenue, which had once been his home but now seemed as much an illusion as the sets of Shanghai film studios"

After so many years living in poverty, going back to his luxurious house must have been a real shock. This extract shows how strange it was for him, as though he were living in a film set, that the home he had grown up in was now just a house, not him home.

4. The security around the city and new settlements of shanty towns in the fields shows the struggle that was continuing, even though the war was over. With so much desperation to enter the city and have a chance to rebuild their lives, it is possible to see what a volatile and difficult setting living in and around Shanghai was.

• "The Nationalist soldiers in their American tanks were turning back hundreds of destitute peasants, without rice or land to crop, trying to find refuge in Shanghai."
• "Shanty towns of mud dwellings...covered the fields near the burnt out Olympic stadium at Nantao"

This shows how lucky Jim was, to have a house such as his at Amherst Avenue to return to, as so many were left with nothing after the war.

5. By featuring Jim's return to Lunghua Camp, a powerful message is put across. To transform from a prison and place of death, starvation and poverty, to a settlement for hundreds of British natives and families, a great transition is shown from throughout the fighting to post-war China.

• "Jim expected to see Lunghua camp deserted, but far from being abandoned the former prison was busy again, fresh barbed wire strung along its fences."
• "The hospital and the camp cemetery had vanished, and the site was an open tract of ash and cinders, from which a few charred joists protruded."
• "...as a series of tennis courts were about to be laid."

The introduction of tennis courts seems to be quite prominent, as though by placing these down on the land that was once a resting ground for so many disease-stricken bodies, that the tragedy of war could be forgotten. By destroying the hospital and cemetery, it may have been a fresh start, no longer in a prison but a guarded living compound.

Chapter 42 Summary-Lucy Oliva

Two months have passed since the was ended and Jim was rescued, with his parents preparing to depart for England. Shanghai is once again a busy city, bustling with British and American soldiers, thousands of Chinese, pickpockets, pedicabs, prostitutes, vendors, dealers, traders and 'the evening citizenry.'

Three Cinema screens have been set up, continuously showing newsreels from Europe and the Pacific. From Russian machine guns to US marine flame-throwers, RAF fighters and Chinese propaganda against the communists, Jim had repeatedly watched the videos in his two months since returning home. His parents were slowly recovering from imprisonment at the camp in Soochow, and so he spent endless hours being driven around by Yang, his chauffeur, in the families different cars.

Yang could not understand why Jim would want to watch the same films, such as Bataan and The Fighting Lady, over and over again. Jim wonders what Yang did during the war before returning to serve for his father.

Since returning home Jim had had dental work done on his jaw and gained weight, eating large meals and sleeping peacefully at night. Amherst Avenue no longer felt like home to him, but more of an illusion like a set at Shanghai film studios.

Jim often thought about the room he and the Vincent's shared at the camp, so ordered Yang to drive him to Lunghua at the end of October. Checkpoints now guarded the entrances of the city, with National soldiers turning away hundreds of peasants trying to find refuge. Shanty towns now covered the fields around the Olympic Stadium at Nantao.

Rather than be deserted, the former prison was now home to hundreds of British nationals. Entire families had built suites of rooms in E block. Jim found Basie's cubicle and tried to retrieve one of the magazines from the makeshift walls, but was warned away. He was also refused from G block by a British couple that now occupied it, so returned to the Lincoln, sending Yang on a final circuit of the camp. The hospital and cemetery had disappeared, the land now being used to build tennis courts. The airfield and runway were completely covered in vegetation, the wrecks of the Japanese aircraft's densely hidden.

On the drive back to Amherst Avenue, Jim reflected on the last few weeks of the war. It had been a muddle, his starvation possibly turning him mad. Despite this, he had seen the bright flash of the atomic bomb at Nagasaki. He had seen the start of World War III, realizing that it was going on all around him. He also commented that the crowds that watched the newsreels had not yet grasped that the war had already started.

In the last weeks before Jim and his mother sailed to England, he thought about the young Japanese pilot that he seemed to have raised from the dead. He concluded that the man had probably been dying, and Jim's movements had woken him. Mrs. Vincent and her husband had died on the walk from the stadium, and Jim wondered if Bassie too had died during his attack on the stadium, or if he and Lieutenant Price were still roaming the land of The Yangtze.

Jim did not confide any of these thoughts with his parents or Dr. Ransome. He recalls his first return home, where his mother and fathered has smiled at him weakly from their deck chairs in the garden. He realized that they had fought their own war, different from his own experience. Despite there continued affection towards him, the seems old and far away.

Walking across the quay from the Arrawa, Jim witnessed a spectacle to which many of the Chinese around him were focusing on. At the Shanghai Club, a group of drunken British and American soldiers has emerged from inside. Jeering at the Chinese and forming a chorus line, they proceeded to urinate down the steps. The audience stood silent and expressionless, and from looking at the faces of clerks, coolies and peasant women, Jim realized that 'one day China would punish the rest of the world, and take frightening revenge.'

Jim made his way to his parents on the boats upper deck, spending a last night with his father as he and his mother were sailing to England the next day. Stepping onto the gangway, he realized that it was most likely the last time he would leave Shanghai, returning 'home' to a strange, small world he had never visited before. He concluded that only a small part of his mind would leave, the rest remaining in Shanghai forever.

Watching a child's coffin drifting in the stream below the Arrawa, Jim noted that it was beginning its journey to the estuary of the Yangtze, but was still being swept back, 'driven once again to the shores of this terrible city.'