【正文】 y m anner of li vi ng of t he char acters。 (3) t he t ime or peri od i n whi ch t he act ion takes place, f or example, t he l at e ei ght ent h cent ur y i n histor y or winter of t he year。 ( 4) the gener al envir onment of t he char act ers, for exam pl e, reli gi ous, ment al , m or al, social, and em ot ional condi ti ons through which charact er s i n the st or y m ove. ( Hol man and Harm an, A Handbook to li terat ure, 1986) But of ten, i n an ef f ect i ve st or y, set ti ng may fi gure as m or e than m er e background. I t can m ake thi ngs happen. It can pr ompt char act ers t o act, bri ng t hem t o r eali zati ons, or cause t hem t o r eveal t hei r innerm ost natures, as we shal se i n John Cheever ’s short story “The Swimmer”. Fi rst, as we have sai d, the idea of set i ng i ncludes t he physical envi ronm ent of a story: a regi on, a landscape, a cit y, a vil age, a str et, a house—a par ti cular pl ace or a ser ies of places where a story occurs. ( Wher e a st or y t akes pl ace is sometim es cal led its l ocal e.) Pl aces i n fi ct ion not onl y pr ovide a l ocati on f or an acti on or an event of the st or y but al so pr ovoke f eli ngs i n us. A si ght of a gr en fi el d dott ed wit h fl ut eri ng daf fodi ls af ects us very dif ferent ly f rom asi ght of a di ngy al ley, a tr opical j ungl e, or a smal house crowded wit h fur nit ur e. I n addi ti on t o a sense of beauty or ugli ness, we usual y buil d up cert ai n associ at ions when we put oursel ves in such a scene. We ar e depr essed by a di ngy aley, not onl y because i t i s ugl y, but because i t m ay arouse a feel ing, per haps som et imes unconsci ousl y, of povert y, miser y, violence, vi ci ousnes, and t he str uggles of hum an bei ngs who have t o li ve under such conditi ons. A t r opical j ungl e, f or exam pl e, i n Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, mi ght i nvolve a pli cated anal ysis: the pl easur e of the col ours and f orm s of vegetati on, t he disf or t of humi di ty, heat, and i nsect s, a sense of m ystery, horr or, etc. The popul ar it y of Sir Walt er Scott’s “Waver ley” novels i s due in par t o thei r evocati on of a r om anti c mood of Scot land. The Engl ish noveli st Gr aham Greene appar entl y needed t o vi si t a f resh scene in order t o writ e a fr esh novel. Hi s abili ty t o encapsulate t he esence of an exot ic set ing i n a singl e book is exem pl if ied in The Heart of t he M at er 。 hi s cont em porary Evel yn Waugh stated that t he West Afr ica of t hat book repl aced t he t rue rem em bered West Afr ica of his own experi ence. Such power i s not unm on: t he Yor kshi re moor s have been r om anti ci zed because Emil y Bront e wrote of them in Wuthering Hei ght s, and li terary t ouri st s have visit ed Stoke on Tr ent i n nor ther n England because it pr ises t he “Fi ve Towns” of Ar nold Ben ’s novels of t he ear ly t wenti et h cent ur y. Thus, a r eader ’s r eact ion to a place i s not m er el y based upon the way i t l ooks, but upon t he pot enti ali ti es of acti on suggested by i t. Places m att er great ly t o m any writ ers. For i nstance, t he French noveli st Bal zac, bef or e writ ing a st or y set in a t own, he woul d go and vi sit t hat own, select a f ew l anes and houses, and descri bes them in det ail , down to t heir ver y smel s. In his view t he place i n whi ch a n event occur s was of equal m oment wit h the event it self , and it has a part t o pl ay. Another example is Thom as Har dy, under whom the pr esent at ion of set ti ng asumes an unusual import ance. Hi s “Wessex” vil lages cast i nt angi bl y such as spel upon t he vil agers t hat once t hey leave thei r hometowns t hey wil i nevi tabl y suf er f rom disasters, and the fart her they are away f rom t heir hom et owns, the m ore, t er ri bl e t heir disasters wil l be. For exam pl e, in t he Tes of t he D’ Urbervil es, t he Vale of Bl akem or e was t he place where Tess was bor n and her li fe was to unf ol d. Ever y contour of the surr oundi ng hil ls was as per sonal to her as t hat of her el at ives’ faces。 she l oved t he pl ace and was l oved i n t he pl ace. The val e, far f r om t he m addi ng cr owd of t he ci vil ized cit y, was as ser ene and pur e as t he i nhabit ants. Tes, im bued deepl y wit h t he natural hue of t he val e and bound cl osel y to t hi s worl d of simpli ci ty and secl usi on, exper ienced her own deli ght and happi nes t hough her f ami ly was poor . It was, t o some ext ent, her depar t ur e f rom her nati ve place t hat l ed t o her t ragedy. I n The Ret urn of the Nat ive, t he atmospher e of Egdon Heat h pr evai ls over the whol e book。 as an envir onm ent, i t absorbs some and r epel s ot her s of the charact er s: t hose who ar e abs or bed achieve a som ber integr at ion wit h i t, but t hose who ar e repel ed and rebel suf er disaster. Som etim es an envi ronm ent serves as more t han a m ere pl ace t o set t he st ory. Oft en, it is i next ri cabl y ent angl ed wi th t he protagonist, and even car ri es st rong sym boli c m eanings. Cat hy as an im age of t he f emi ni ne personal it y, f or exam pl e, i n Emi ly Br onte’s Wuthering Hei ght s, is not supposed t o posses t he “wil dernes” charact eri st ic of m asculi ni ty and sym boli zed by the locales of Heat hcli f and Wut heri ng H ei ghts . I n some fi ct ion, set ti ng i s cl osel y bound wi th t hem e. I n The Scarl et Let ter, even sm al det ai ls af or d powerf ul hi nt s at t he t hem e of t he story. At t he start of t he story, t he nar at or descr i bes a coloni al j ail house: Before t hi s ugly edi fi ce, and bet wen it and t he wheelt rack of the st reet, was a gr ass pl ot , m uch over gr own wit h burdock, pi gweed, appleper u, and such unsi ghtl y vegetati on, whi ch evi dentl y found somethi ng congenial i n the soil t hat had so ear ly borne the bl ack fl ower