usually a historical novel has a dramatization in it. Then City of Thieves is chosen in this study to reveal how the deprivation in Leningrad during World War II as
depicted by David Benioff was. The novel tookplace during the Siege of Leningrad which was executed by
German in World War II. It tells about two young boys; Lev and Kolya who were arrested and thrown into the same cell. In order to save their life, they had to
finish a task from a Russian Colonel. They had to bring a dozen of eggs in 5 days to the Colonel. At that time, eggs were really hard to find. Then, Lev and Kolya’s
mission to find eggs began. They had to struggle to reach an area by area, walk in coldness, and survive from their hunger because the supplies in the city were cut
off. At several times, they were almost being killed by the German. Along their journey, they found friendship between them.
B. Approach of the Study
For this study, Sociocultural-Historical approach is used. The concept of Sociocultural-Historical according to Rohrberger and Woods 1971 is that the
text represents what the author wrote. They alsostate that“literature takes the attitudes and actions of people as its subject matter. It is necessary that the critic
investigate the social milieu in which a work was created and which it necessarily leaflets. Literature is not created in a vacuum. Literature embodies ideas
significant to the culture that produce it.” p. 9. There are two factors why people should not see a work of literature as a
historical document that illuminate the past only without relevance to
contemporary life. They are “accuracy in the presentation of historical facts is of value to the historian, but not necessarily to the author, and a work of literature
might have historical significance but not necessarily literary significance p. 10- 11.
C. Method of the Study
The method of the study used in this study is library research. The data are gathered by reading books and doing research in analyzing the novel. The primary
data is the novel City of Thieves by David Benioff. The secondary data are the books related to theory of setting, theory of deprivation, relation between
literature, society, and history, review of Leningrad during World War II. And review of related studies.
In doing this study, there are some steps taken. The first step is reading the novel, City of Thieves. It is needed to be done in order a good understanding about
the story and the elements in the novel can be achieved. After reading the novel, the problem of the study is formulated.
This study focuses on the setting of Leningrad that depicted in the novel. The author describes how deprived the people of Leningrad when they were being
blocked by German. By reading the novel, the deprivation that was experienced by the people of Leningrad at that time can be imagined. Therefore, this study
analyzes the deprivation in Leningrad during the siege whichhappened during World War II as depicted in the novel.
