【正文】 i s a pl i cated m at ter and di f fer ent r eader s m ay have dif f er ent i nt erpr et at i ons of t he same novel , so it i s i ncor r ec t t o pr esum e that one novel has onl y one t hem e. I n som e cases, t here ar e several subt hem es t o t he m ai n t hem e. I n r eali t y, som e novel s ar e appr eci ated f or t hei r t hem ati c ambi gui ty. For exam ple, Moby Di ck can be i nter pr eted i n mor e ways t han one. Fi nal y, t he t hem e i s not t o be confused wit h t he subject. The t hem e i s an i dea whi le t he subj ect i s a m at er or an af air . “Love i s i nvincibl e” m ay be a t heme, but “l(fā) ove” i s onl y a subj ect . A subj ect m ay be uni ver sal . The subj ects of The Scarl et Let ter, The Great Gatsby, and Wom en i n Love ar e al l “l(fā) ove. ” But t hese novels have dif f er ent t hem es. A t hem e is part icul ar t o it s novel, t hough t her e ar e m any si mil ar them es t o be found i n ot her novels . I I. Fi ve Requir em ents f or St ati ng a Them e The st atement of a t hem e m ay be br ief or long. And t her e ar e dif f er ent ways t o expr ess one and the sam e t hem e. But it shoul d meet the f ol l owi ng r equir em ent s. A t hem e m ust be expressed i n t he form of a st atem ent wi t h a subj ect and a predi cat e. For exam pl e, “Love of one’ s countr y oft en i nspir es her oi c sel f sacr if i ce.” I f a t hem e is expr essed i n t he form of a phr ase, t hen t he phr ase m ust be convert i bl e to sentence form . One can say t hat t he t heme of a novel i s “f ut il t y of envy.” The phr ase can be changed t o “envy i s futi l e. ” When one chooses to st at e a t hem e in t he phrase form , he m ust be ver y car eful about it s conver ti bi li t y t o sent ence f orm . For i nst ance , the phrase “self l ess mat er nal l ove” does not al ways m ean t hat “m at er nal l ove is self less. ” The t hem e is general izati on about l if e based on t he novel, and t he stat em ent of t hem e shoul d be t rue al so of other peopl e or li f e si t uat ions. Ther ef ore, nam es of characters and pl aces shoul d not be m ent ioned, f or they suggest speci fi c t hi ngs and i nvi t e lim it at i ons. So i n them ati c discussi on of Wut heri ng H ei ght s, one may m enti on “peopl e’ s psychol ogy of revenge, ” but not “Heat hcl if f’ s. ” Though a t hem e i s a generali zat ion, over general izati on shoul d be avoi ded. Since a t hem e i s extr act ed fr om a par ti cul ar novel ( a part icul ar event ), it m ay not be appli cabl e to al si tuati ons. So wor ds l i ke “al ways, ” “never ,” “al ,” and “ever y” shoul d be avoi ded. I nstead, one shoul d use wor ds l ike “som e, ” “som et im es,” and “may.” When m aki ng a gener ali zat ion, one shoul d str i ctl y keep t o what i s act ual ly i n t he novel and not sm uggl e i nt o i t assum pt i ons s uppl ied f r om his past exper i ence. Si nce t heme i s t he cent ral and unif yi ng i dea of t he novel , it m ust account f or al l t he m aj or det ai ls and m ust not be contradict ed by an detail s i n t he novel. Si nce a t heme i s dif f erent f rom a m oral or a l eson, one shoul d avoi d reduci ng a t hem e t o a cl i ch233。 or pl at it ude li ke “Beaut y is onl y ski n deep. ” If one cr am s ever y new experi ence i nto an ol d f or m ul a, he l oses t he opport uni t y of new per cepti on pr ovi ded by r eadi ng novel s. I V. Wher e t o Look f or t he Them e The noveli st m ay st at e or im pl y t he them e. He uses every possi ble m et hod to convey t he t hem e. Though t he t hem e i s based upon t he whol e novel, pr act ical y, we can speci f y some i mport ant ar eas i n whi ch t o l ook f or t he t hem e. H ow t he novel is enti tl ed. The t it l e i s t he nam e of t he novel and i n m any cases ( alm ost al cases) the novel ist i nt ends it t o t el l som et hi ng im por t ant about t he novel. Someti mes t he centr al t hem e of the novel i s present i n the t it le. For exam ple, Pri de and Prej udice i s about Darcy’s pr ide and Eli zabet h Ben’ s pr ej udi ce. Mai n Street i s about t he l if e of mi ddl ecl ass peopl e in a Mi dwest er n t own. . Thi nk what the t itl e of For Whom t he Bel l Tol ls t el s about it s theme, and As I l ay Dyi ng. H ow t he noveli st shows hi s i nt erest . If t he noveli st is i nt erest ed i n som et hi ng, he woul d al ow m or e space t o it , descri bi ng or nar at i ng i n gr eat det ail. Yet, someti mes he emphasi zes i t by leavi ng it out, as i n t he case of Er nest Hemi ngway. The point concer ned here i s t hat why t he noveli st gi ves m or e at ent i on t o t hi s par ti cul ar char act er , si nce or event but not ot her s. H ow t he noveli st deal s wit h a m on subject. Of ten t he noveli st has t o i ncl ude i n his wor k som e mon subj ect s, but if he t r eat s t he mon subj ect s i n an unm on way, i t shows t hat he i s tr yi ng t o convey som et hi ng new or i m port ant i n t he novel. Maybe i t is t he theme t hat demands hi m to do so. Im port ant sym bol s. Sym bols ar e l oaded wit h im port ant m eani ngs. So if a sym bol appears r epeatedl y or at im por t ant m om ents, it m ay poi nt t o t he them e of t he novel. A good exam ple i s t he l et er “A” i n The Scarl et Let t er . Im port ant speeches. Char act er s t al k and in t hei r t al k are r eveal ed t hei r j udgments of t he ot her char act er s or event. The char act ers ’ judgm ent s m ay gi ve im por tant cl ues t o t he them e. V. Obvi ous and unobvi ous theme O bvi ous t heme: The t heme of a st or y, si nce we know, i s whatever general idea or i nsight t he enti re st or y r eveals. I n som e st ori es, t he t hem e is r ather obvi ous. For exam pl e, i n Aesop’ s f abl e about the counci l of t he mi ce t hat cannot decide who wil bel t he cat , the t hem e is st at ed i n t he mor al at t he end: “I t is e