Empire Of The Sun English Literature Essay

Jamie: Jim is a eleven year old boy who lives in Shanghai and does not know a lot about the world war 2 and is in the middle of it. He supports the Japanese because he just likes their planes and because he thinks they are really brave people. You can describe Jim as a silly boy who gets scared quite quickly. At the end of the book (years later) Jim is still a bit silly/clumsy. Jim has a obsession with planes, you can clearly see this from the start of the book where he can name all of the planes that are flying by through the sky. Since Jim is a bit clumsy/silly that does not mean he cannot be a brave person. You can clearly see that Jim is a brave person in this book he also tries to help other people as much as possible and is really honest.

Basie: Basie is a soldier from America. You don’t really get to know a lot about Basie. All you can really tell about Basie is that he is a selfish guy but he acts like he’s a nice guy to Jim but he is just using Jim for his own goal!

Dr Ransome: He’s a English doctor who lives in Singapore Dr Ransome is a really nice person and is always willing to help people. He is really nice to Jim not just for his own goal but more because he is a kind person. While being in the Concentration camp he teaches Jim and he is his friend as well.

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Jim’s parents: The father of Jim is a rich man who owns a textile company as, his mother is a really caring mother. You do not really get to know a lot about the parents of Jim in the book because they’re only in a small part of the book.

The setting

The story of the book start in Shanghai where Jim and his parents live. It’s a busy and living city. But most of the book takes place in a concentration camp where Jim lives for over 4 years, it’s called: Lunghau. The camp is a really shitty place to be, you can almost compare it to some camps in Germany. There are a lot of executions happening and you do not get a lot of food and sometimes you don’t get anything to eat/drink. Fortunately Dr Ransome is with Jim in the camp, he teaches him and is his friend that makes it less shitty to be there. The story also takes place at another camp which is just a transport camp (you do not get to know a lot about this camp).

Conflicts

One of the major conflicts are of course that the Japanese invade Shanghai and capture most of the people who live there. Jim will be captured by the Japanese as well. The second conflict in the story is that Basie will try to protect Jim and himself of course of being captured by the Japanese. There will be a lot of bloodshed but Jim will still be captured and Basie will die. The invade of the Japanese will also separate Jim and his parents. The final Conflict(s) will be in the concentration camp. There is a lot of hate from the Japanese towards the British and Chinese people, they are getting humiliated and killed for no reasons. The Japanese have their own laws in there. Jim and Dr Ransome are trying to survive this nightmare and they have done that for over 4 years!

Interactive Part

Poetry

Planes are flying through the sky.

Look at them their up so high!

Jim knows all the names.

All the names of those killing machine planes.

Years later Jim realized.

He was the one being victimized.

The Japanese are invading.

The earth has started quaking.

Jim is the one who is treated uncivilized.

Keep on living that’s what he and DR. prioritized.

This poem is about how Jim’s love for war planes changes as he realised what their for. After a while he is transported to a concentration camp where he is treated like an animal. He’s there with Dr. Ransome.

Journal

page 143: “[Tossing a pair of sunglasses to Jim as the Japanese army begin to beat him] I want these back when they’re done. “You can see how Basie even when he will die keep up the hope for Jim.

page 119: “What else you betting with Basie? My LIFE. [shows a copy of LIFE magazine] “

This show’s you a bit about the personality of Basie.

page 313: “If Shanghai was too dangerous, perhaps his mother and father would leave Armhest Avenue and live with him in Lunghua. In a practical sense it was a pity that the Japanese soldiers would not be there to guard them…” You can see how Jim still thinks about his parents after he knows he will probably never see them again. (quite sad, but he will!)

Page 25:”Jim had nearly given Yang a heart attack by pointing his metal Spitfire into the face of a Japanese corporal.” This tells you in the beginning of the book how childish Jim is and still knows nothing about the war and how to behave against the Japanese.

Page 351: “Only to be swept back by the incoming tide among the quays and mud-flats, driven once again to the shores of this terrible city.” At the end of the book Jim finally realizes how terrible this city is and he has finally grown up, he’s a man now.

Writing a letter

Tim Neve

F.V. Alkemadelaan 8

1181 PW

Amstelveen

Jamie Carter

Baker street 4

323 EW

London

Dear Jim,

How are you doing? I hope you are doing great. I’ve heard you have had a terrible time in the camps. I hope you and your parents have some rest now, back in London. How could you have endured four whole years in that camp?! You should be a really strong person by now. Do you know anything about Dr. Ransome? I really hope he did not die because he was a really good and nice person. How are your parents doing? I figured they were really scared that they would never ever see you again because they fled and you had to go to the camp. As well I want to ask some more in depth questions. What I really wanted to know about you after reading the book is why are you so obsessed with the fighter planes? Did your dad get you obsessed with it or are it just the movies you enjoyed watching? As well do you remember pointing a toy spitfire at a Japanese corporal? And did you really like Basie? Or were you just with him because he protected you and you acted like you liked him? He was kind of a douche-bag you know. He was acting like he protected you but he was just using you for his own goals! Well at least I’m glad you are safe.

Greetings from the Netherlands,

Tim Neve

Glossary

blz 32″Those are some Venomous snakes” Venomous – giftig

blz 33″along the paddy fields” Paddy (rice paddies) – rijst velden

blz 47″then a line of camouflaged trucks packed with Japanese soldiers” camouflaged – gecamoufleerd

blz 50 “And by his amateur plane-spotting” Plane-spotting – het bekijken van vliegtuigen met een verrekijker

Blz 50″The French missionary sisters were arguing” missionary – missionaris

Blz 55″as the klaxons sounded from the avenue” klaxons – toeters

blz 25:”Jim had nearly given Yang a heart attack by pointing his metal Spitfire into the face of a Japanese corporal.” Spitfire – speciaal type vliegtuig

Blz 56 “when Jim reached the junction” junction – kruispunt

blz 57 “,submerging this small death” submerging – onderdompelen/vergeten

Blz 57″trying to cuff his head” cuff – onthoofden, slaan met een machete

blz 58 Kidnappings were common in Shanghai” kidnappings – ontvoeringen

blz 65″and watched the water level almost imperceptibly falling in the swimming pool” imperceptibly – onmerkbaar

2x!” blz 91 towers of smoke shuddered from the cruiser’s funnels as it prepared to raise anchor” shuddered – huiverde, funnels – trechters

blz 93″Faint with hunger,” faint – zwak door de honger

blz 93″and ducked through a narrow hatch.” Hatch – luik.

blz 111″Jim lay back on the teak bench” teak – teakhout van een teak boom

2x!blz 111″the Japanese sergeant in charge of the detention centre was holding another of his roll-calls.”

roll-calls – appels, detention – gevangen/hechtenis

blz 113″Jim began to rattle at the Japanese watching behind their white masks.” Rattle – ratelen/kletsen

2x!blz 113″even the emaciated soldier had found the lid of a mess-tin.” Emaciated – uitgemergeld, mess-tin – Messtin deksel, iets gemaakt van messing.