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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Novel as one type of literature is an instrument that can represent social conditions, such as the conditions of society in a certain time and place.
From this instrument, the writer can develop the social conditions inside a certain society. Holman and Harmon describe,
All novels are representations in fictional NARRATIVE of life or experience, but the FORM is itself as protean as life and experiences
themselves. Serious FICTION deals with human beings in significant action. The world that appears to be a significant stage for such
ACTION varies greatly from author to author. An author‟s world maybe only within the lowest recesses of the human unconscious; …
1986: 336.
They describe that novel is an extraction or reflection of life and experiences of human beings. Based on that point, literature is not always a pure fiction,
but it is also an accurate document which contains history of human beings, in this case, as the reflection of the author‟s life or experiences. They also
describe that the world in a fiction created by the author is based on the unconsciousness of the author himself as the source of imaginations to
construct the basics of the story, such as the backgrounds, settings, and characters.
The main purpose of this thesis is to reveal and comprehend the social conditions in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War represented by
James Graham Ballard in the novel Empire of the Sun. For that matter, first
the writer needs to perceive J. G. Ballard‟s experiences as the author through Jim‟s experiences as the main character of this novel in order to comprehend
the real social conditions in China during the Second World War. Langland describes,
The variable relationships among these three centers of value –
character, society, and narrator implied author – determine the range
of functions or formal roles for society in the novel … I have limited myself to character; society; and narratorimplied author, because
these all inhere in the novel and are the centers of judgment manipulated within the novel 1984: 11.
From Langland‟s description, there are three main values in the creation of a variable relationship in the novel. They are character, society, and
narratorimplied author. These three values have a function to determine the range or formal roles for society in the novel. They also become the center of
judgment which manipulates the story within the novel. This means that they are very crucial factors in order to construct the main ideas and develop the
story in the novel. Based on the preceding paragraphs, there is a relationship between
literature and society. The society can be described as the knowledge, which is derived from many experiences that the author has. After the author
experienced something, he transfers his experiences into a novel that contains his knowledge about his experiences in a certain time and place. From the
elements that are illustrated in this novel, the writer attempts to reveal and comprehend the social conditions of the people and society that occur in
China in the pre-Sino-Japanese War until the post-Sino-Japanese War since 1937 until 1945. The social conditions are taken as the primary subject
because through the social conditions, every elements of a nation in a certain time and place can be explained and represented.
Another related quotation is described by MacIver and Page. They say “the relationship between individual and society is not one-sided: both are
essential for the comprehension of either” 1957: 48. From MacIver and Page‟s quotation, the relation between human beings and society is not one-
sided. Society influences human beings because society is created from many characteristics of human beings. From this explanation, the connection of
human beings and society that is “not one-sided” is proved. Both of them are essential to create a comprehension between them, i.e. human beings and
society. Based on the preceding paragraphs, the novel Empire of the Sun by James Graham Ballard can be used to analyze the social conditions in China
during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It is because the writer can sense the experiences which are encountered by the author through the novel.
James Graham Ballard‟s Empire of the Sun is appropriate to be analyzed in order to reveal and comprehend the social conditions in China in
relation with the Second Sino-Japanese War. It is because J. G. Ballard as the author of this novel experienced the social conditions during the Second
Sino- Japanese War. A quotation taken from Vanessa Thorpe entitled “JG
Ballards draft of Empire of the Sun acquired by British Library The dystopian visionarys manuscript is part of an archive being saved for the
nation in order to pay death duties ” in The Observer says,
Ballard grew up in Shanghai and was interned with his family in a Japanese camp during the Second World War. His recollections were
the basis for Empire of the Sun. He moved to Britain, and by the 1960s had become a full-time author www.guardian.co.uk, 27 March 2012.
From the foregoing quotation, J. G. Ballard as the author of Empire of the Sun really encountered the experiences when he and his parents were placed in a
prisoner camp by the Japanese during the Second World War in China. After the Second World War was over, he moved to Britain and worked as a full-
time author. In his work as an author; he wrote about his childhood experiences in China, especially in Shanghai and created a novel entitled
Empire of the Sun .
B. Problem Formulation