Empire of the Sun

What are the advantages and disadvantages of seeing everything
through Jim's eyes?

Empire of the Sun is written in the third person, but in a way combines
some elements of the first person because the story is told so closely
following Jim. The development of the character, his opinions and his
actions are portrayed to us as if the book was in the first person, but
in the same way keeps the detachment of the third person. This enables
JG Ballard to give a much more rounded story, and to effortlessly get
across much more information to the reader.

Jim, as a character, changes as he grows up. Following him means that
the book is not only an account of the war, but also an account of a
life. The writing gathers interest because the character is an
intriguing one, and the reader gets to know him very well.
However his character is often biased, and we cannot trust that
whatever he says is true, rather than an opinion or a mistake on his
part. His limited view means that there is not always enough
information about the other people in the story to satisfy. As it is,
one sees relatively little of the others, and what we see is governed
by the way they act around Jim, and how he, himself, sees them.
Jim is often very critical of others, for example his view of
Vera:
"This bored young woman...followed Jim everywhere like a guard dog."
(p.15)
It is doubtful that Vera is really bored, it is merely the way that Jim
sees her. She follows him because that is her job.
Jim's view on Basie, however, is biased in a different way. It is
obvious to the reader that the American is a very sinister character,
and yet Jim is so friendly with him that one never really sees the more
terrible side of Basie.

Jim has an extremely detached view of his situation. As a character, he
seems not to have any passion about the events that surround him. For
example, in Chapter 4, Jim thinks that his father is holding a yellow
glove, after saving a petty officer from the ship, the Petrel, and
then:
"...Jim realised that it was the complete skin from one of the petty
officer's hands..." (p.48)
This is a particularly gruesome image to the reader, and yet there is
no description of any revulsion in Jim at all, as one might expect. His
lack of emotion means that the reader's own thoughts are not intruded
on. Jim shows the events to us and we are left to glean the feeling
from the images we are given. In this way more of the story can be
seen. If Jim was emotional then there would be much more focus on what
he was feeling, and there would be less time to look at what actually
happens.
The lack of emotion in Jim's character, however, is sometimes
debatable. Is it really plausible that a young boy would act in such a
way, and feel so little? For example, the way Jim acts when he realises
his parents have been taken away. It is quite unbelievable that his
reaction is so calm. For example, after four days of waiting for his
parents to come home:
"Trying to keep his spirits up, Jim decided to visit the homes of his
closest friends..." (p.66)
and instead of being upset concerning his situation, he revels in it,
riding his bike through the house:
"Delighted to think how shocked Vera and the servants would have been,
he expertly circled his father's study..." (p. 67)
Empire of the Sun is written from JG Ballard's own experiences, but he
himself was not separated from his parents. This adds to the question
of whether Jim's character is really believable.

Jim's childlike point of view means that the reader does not always
fully know what is happening. If the book were written from an adult's
point of view it would be much easier to know what the war situation in
Shanghai was, and why the Japanese invaded.
However there are many moments in the book when Jim's mis-reading of
the situation makes the situation all the more understandable. For
example, when Jim thinks that the footprints in the spilled powder on
the floor in his parents room are from his mother teaching the soldiers
to tango, it is all too obvious to the reader what has really happened.
Yet somehow one can see that if it was simply stated that his parents
were taken away, the situation would not be half as pitiful as it is
when Jim doesn't realise what has truly happened to his mother:
"...perhaps one of the Japanese officers to whom she was teaching the
tango." (p. 64-5)
The writing is whimsical and almost gives two points of view- Jim's and
the reader's own. If the book was from an adult's point of view it
would be more straight forward and perhaps the reader would be less
sympathetic. Often moments like this one make up for the lack of
emotion in Jim. Is that emotion really needed after all, when Jim sees
so much? Perhaps it is there after all, in everything he says, it is
just not stated obviously (ie "he felt...").

Most books about World War II are written from an adult's point of
view. By putting the reader in someone else's shoes for a change, there
is a chance to see a whole other side of the war. This makes the book
appealing because it is so different, and more interesting to read.