invasion in Shanghai. Jim had to interact with the people around him to survive in this terrible condition. As the main character, Jim saw everything
based on his perspective as a child. He had a dream to join with Japan air force, better than joined the British Royal Air Force. As a child, he was naïve
and saw everything without any repression from any ideologies. Jim also felt the resistant war that was done by the Chinese army and supported by the
Allies faction versus the Japanese as the Axis faction. At the end of the story, Jim and all prisoners were set free from the
Japanese aggression after the atomic bombs were fell down in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan. The Empire of Japan surrendered to Allies forces and the
Second World War as the inclusion of the Second Sino-Japanese ended. Even though the Second World War had brought to an end, the war inside China
still continued and no doubt, Jim felt that the city of Shanghai had changed into a terrible city because there was no peace at all.
B. Approach of the Study
Sociocultural-historical approach is used to analyze the novel Empire of the Sun
by James Graham Ballard. This approach is ideal to describe and actually supported to analyze the work of literature that contains the social
conditions occurring in a certain time and place. From the explanation, sociocultural-historical approach is essential to the main purposes that will be
used by the writer to analyze the novel. There are some conditions which can
be analyzed by this approach, such as social, culture, and history. According to Rohrberger and Woods, they describe,
Critics whose major interest is the sociocultural-historical approach insist that the only way to locate the real work is in reference to the
civilization that produced it. They define civilization as the attitudes and actions of a specific group of people and point out that literature
takes these attitudes and actions as its subject matter. They feel, therefore, that it is necessary that the critic investigate the social
millennium which a work was created and which it necessarily reflects 1971: 9.
From their depiction, sociocultural-historical approach locates the work based on reference which is constructed by the civilization. Based on this approach,
they define that civilization contains attitudes and actions of some specific groups of people. From the attitudes and actions, the author creates a work of
literature, so directly or not, the work of literature will contain the reflection of civilization. This approach is really ideal to criticize and investigate the
social millennium matters which is created and reflected by the work, especially a literary work.
The reason sociocultural-historical approach is chosen as the main approach is because the main problems of this thesis are to reveal and to
develop the social conditions in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War based on the novel Empire of the Sun by James Graham Ballard. This
approach can comprehend the real social conditions which are really encountered by the author in form of literary work, especially a novel. By
using this approach, the writer can comprehend the real social conditions that are encountered and experienced by the author.
C. Method of the Study
