During the march, the detainees are allowed to rest by the Olympic stadium where Jim witnesses the white flash of the atom bomb hit Nagasaki. Maxted, who once rescued him from death, to the Nantao prison. Ransome, who teaches him Latin and mathematics. However, he continues his education from the elder prisoners, such as Dr. It is now 1945, four years after he was first sent to the camp, and Jim struggles to survive. However, just as when the war first broke out, Jim fantasizes that once the fighting is over and he recovers his guardians, life will continue as before. He believes that his mother and father are in the Soochow prison camp and hopes to find them. The atrocities of war does not break his spirit and the youngster continues to dream of becoming a pilot and is enjoys watching the fighter jets fly over the camp. Using his survival instinct, he aligns himself with people who would be essential to his survival.

However, Jim is able to integrate into the camp, gaining the affection of the commanders and cooks. The boy hopes that he will find his parents there but they are still missing. They are later transferred to the prison camp. The Japanese troops eventually find Jim and he is sent to the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Center where he is reunited with his friend. Foraging for food and shelter, he meets and begins a friendship Bassie, an American air steward. Forced to fend for himself, he lives in abandoned mansions and eats leftover scraps.

The turmoil and confusion of the war separates Jim from his family. Pearl Harbor had just been bombed and the Japanese have occupied the Shanghai International Settlement. Jim Graham is an eleven-year-old English boy with a passion for airplanes living in China with his parents. In 1987, Steven Spielberg directed a young Christian Bale in the award-winning film adaptation of the book. Published in 1984, the novel’s portrayal of a child’s survival and transformation from child of privilege to becoming another innocent victim in a pointless war, garnered immediate acclaim and won the Guardian Fiction Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Ballard is based on his childhood in China during World War II.

Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard