Method of the Study

there are five approaches to literature. The first approach is the formalist approach. The second is the Biographical approach the third is the sociocultural-historical approach. The sociocultural-historical approach is an approach that refers to the civilization that produces it. The civilization here means that attitudes and actions of a specific group of people 1971: 9. The fourth approach is the mythopoeic approach. The fifth approach is the psychological approach. In order to reveal Indian culture in this paper, socio-cultural approach was used. The socio-cultural approach was used to figure out the socio-cultural background of India as seen in the novel and to reveal the influence of karma on the struggle for survival of poor people.

3.3 Method of the Study

In analyzing the novel, the writer used library research. It means that the writer used books to answer the problems. The primary source of this study was a novel The City of Joy. The novel was read several times in order to get better understanding about the story. In order to determine the topic of the study and to find the answer of the problems, some quotations from the novel were taken. Several books that could support the analysis and give information about India and Hinduism that were needed in doing the analysis were also read. Besides reading socio-cultural books of India and reading some Hindu books, the writer also reads some books related to Hindu ethics especially karma. Then, some criticism to Dominique Lapierre and also some sources from internet site were used. The first step in analyzing the novel was reading Dominique Lapierre’s The City of Joy , as the primary source to get clear explanation of the story. The City of Joy was chosen because the novel concerns with poverty in India especially the life of the poor people in one of slums in Calcutta. Besides that, this novel also explained clearly that religion had a vital role to Indians. Then after getting a better understanding of the story, it was decided to discuss the influence of karma, one of fundamental doctrines of Hinduism, to the struggle of poor people as seen in The City of Joy . The second step was after getting the topic that would like to be discussed; some references in the library start to be searched. These books were read in order to get more information that could answer the problem. The third, a teacher of Hindu teachings named Ibu Nyoman and a lecturer of East Philosophy named Romo Sudiharjo were interviewed to get correct explanation about karma. Besides that, a friend who had been to India was also interviewed to get better understanding about socio-cultural of India nowadays. 29

CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS