At about 4am in the morning, we heard heavy gunfire from the Japanese cruiser H.I.J.M.S Izumo which sank the American gunboat
U.S.S Wake and H.M.S Petrel, it was the signal that the Pearl Harbour attack was on.
The Japanese army, now not only controlled their own little sector, but the whole of Shanghai except for the French Settlement as the French
were now under the Vichy Government which was allied to the Axis Powers, Germany, Italy and Japan.
All the allied nations were not permitted to work or go to places of entertainment and had to wear a red arm-band with a number and
initial of their nationality so they could be picked up if they caused any trouble www.bbc.co.uk, 7 September 2012.
Clyde‟s described that the Second Sino-Japanese War created many suffering for the Chinese in China. He inscribed,
Basic in China‟s declining war effort by 1943 was the fact that the Chinese people had been worn sown and disillusioned by six years of
war. Millions had lost their homes and all their worldly possessions. .... There was a steady deterioration in economic life and a growing
paralysis within the governmental administrative hierarchy. … No phase of China‟s war economy escaped the effects of these
disastrous conditions. Where famine was added to the shortages of war, the peasantry took to arms to disarm their own soldiers 1958:
687-688. The Second World War which was triggered and Comprised by the
Second Sino-Japanese War had taken too many lives. Many violations of human rights happened to the people during these incidents, especially the
people who did not understand about the purpose of these incidents. These wars were the great disasters which had been happened in China.
D. Theoretical Framework
This part explains about the usage of the theories to answer the problem formulation. Some of theories are required to analyze the social
conditions in the novel related to the social conditions in the real world. There
are two theories that are used to analyze this thesis. They are the theory of setting and the relationship between society and literature.
The first is the theory of setting. This theory is used by the writer to analyze the social conditions from the setting in the novel. The writer wants to
compare the social conditions in the novel with the real world. This theory describes that setting is the period in time or the place in which the events of a
story are said to occur and the character exists or takes place, such as event, location, and year. The setting is important to analyze history and social aspect
because literary interest contains historical and sociological aspect of certain time and place. The writer uses this theory because it is appropriate to
perceive and compare of the setting between the novel and the real world. This theory can be used to perceive the conditions which are encountered by the
character in the novel. By perceiving from the social conditions that are experienced by the character in the novel, the writer can comprehend the real
social conditions that really occur in a certain time and place, especially which are encountered by the authors in his life experiences in society.
The second theory is the relationship between literature and society. This theory is used to find out and comprehend the social conditions in the
novel and the social conditions in the real world. The writer uses this theory by perceiving the experiences of the author that are revealed through the main
character and their relationship with the social conditions occurring in a certain time and place. Literature is an expression and reflection of society an
„imitation‟ of life. Based on this depiction, this theory can be used to
substantiate this thesis. This theory is used to reconstruct the social conditions in a certain time and place. From the reconstruction, the writer can
comprehend the real social conditions experienced by the author, especially the social conditions in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
24
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The novel entitled Empire of the Sun was written by the British author named James Graham Ballard or well-known as J. G. Ballard. This novel was
published by Grafton Books in London in 1984. This novel has 351 pages long, containing forty two chapters. These chapters are divided into four parts.
Empire of the Sun reveals the struggle of a British boy named James “Jim”
Graham in the city of Shanghai, China during the Second World War in China as the inclusion of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
The main theme of this novel is the conditions in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The setting of this novel is Shanghai city, one of
the biggest port cities in China. The setting of this novel is manufactured setting because the setting is established from the designs of human beings,
like buildings. This novel is categorized into Semi auto-biographical novel. It is because this novel based on the experiences that were really encountered by
the author, with some fictional additions from the author‟s imaginations. The plot of Empire of the Sun is created in sequence and the structure
was formal. It is because the story of the novel follows the formal construction from exposition until resolution. The conflict occurs when the city of
Shanghai is invaded by Japanese troops. The narrator is the author himself. The point of view in this novel is third person omniscient. The author uses
