【正文】 opi ni on about, and statement of , the t hem e. Moral i nferences drawn f rom most st ories: Mor al infer ences may be drawn fr om m ost stori es, no doubt, even when an aut hor does not i nt end his /her st ory t o be r ead t his way. In “A Clean, Wel Li ght ed Place”, we f eel t hat Hemi ngway is i ndi rectl y givi ng us advice f or properl y regarding and sympathi zi ng the l onel y, t he uncert ai n, and t he old. But obvi ously the stor y does not set f ort h a lesson that we are supposed to put i nt o pr acti c e. We can say f or sur e that “A Clean, Wel Li ght ed Place” contai ns several themes and other st at ement s coul d be made t o take in Hemingway’s vi ew of love, of m uni cat ion between peopl e, of digni ty. Great st ori es, li ke great symphonies, f requent ly have mor e t han one t heme. When we say t hat t he ti tle of Pr ide and Pr ej udice conveys the t hem e of the novel or that Uncle Tom’s Cabi n and The Gr apes of Wr ath t reat the t hemes of slavery and mi grat or y l abor r espect ively, thi s is t o use t heme in a lar ger and mor e abstr act sense t han it is in our discussion of Hemi ngway’s “A Cl ean, Wel Li ght ed Place.” I n thi s larger sense i t i s rel at ively easy to say t hat Mark Twai n’s Huckleber y Finn, Updike’s A amp。 P, and Faul kner ’s Bar n Burni ng concern the theme of “i ni ti at ion i nto m aturi ty.” Such gener al descri pt ions of theme can be usef ul, especial y i f we want to sort a l arge number of stor ies and nove l s into rough categor ies, but t he fact that hey ar e sim il ar i n theme does not m ean t hat hey mean the same thi ng. The at it ude towards t he theme m ay be ver y dif fer ent : t he tone of tr eatment may be, f or exampl e, eit her i c or tr agi c, st raightf orwar d or ir onic. The wri ter ’s visi on of l if e i s the special under lyi ng fact of a st ory, and a theme, abstr act ly st at ed, i s not t he same thing as a vi si on of li fe. And we suggest anyway t hat , in t he begi nni ng, you l ook for whatever t rut h or insight you think t he wr it er of a stor y int ends t o r eveal. Try to stat e a theme i n a sentence. By doing so, we wi l f ind ourselves looking cl osely at t he st ory. Kennedy and Gi oi a make a helpf ul suggesti on to consider the f ollowi ng points when we thi nk about the t hem e of a st ory: Look back once mor e at the ti tl e of the stor y. What does it i ndi cat e in r elati on to the whole st ory? Does the m ai n char acter in any way change in t he st or y? Does t his char act er ar r ive at any eventual r ealizati on or under st anding? Ar e you l ef t wit h any reali zat ion or under standi ng aft er f ini shi ng reading t he st ory? Does the author ( thr ough t he nar rat or ) make any gener al obser vat ions about l if e or human nat ur e? Do t he char act er s make any (Cauti on: Char act er s now and agai n wi l utt er opi nions wit h whi ch the r eader is not necesari ly supposed t o agr ee. ) Does the stor y cont ai n any especial y curi ous obj ects, myster ious fl at characters, signif icant anim al s, r epeated names, special al lusions, or whatever, that hint towar ds meani ngs l arger than such t hings ordi nar il y have? I n l iter ar y stor ies, such sym bol s or metaphor s may point t o cent ral themes. When we have worked our st atement of t heme, have we cast our st atement into general language, not j ust given a pl ot summar y? Does our statement hold t rue f or the stor y as a whole, not j ust part of it ? Chapter Four Set ti ng “Once upon a ti me there li ved a ki ng named Mi das i n Phrygi a. He loved gol d more than anything el se but his l it tl e daughter.” Thi s is t he opening sentences of “Golden Touch”, which i ntr oduces the t ime, place, and the usual m ent al i ty of the char act er. What i s set ti ng? An event occur s and a char act er exists i n a part icular t ime and pl ace. This part icular ti me and place is refer red t o as set ting. A set ing is t he background agai nst whi ch a char acter i s depi ct ed or an event nar rated. It s purpose is t o provide an i maginary li nk bet ween what happens i n the novel and what the r eader takes to be r eal it y. Li ke som e other el ement s, set ing i s not pecul iar t o the novel. The reader f inds i t servi ng the same purpose in di f erent genr es. The tr adi ti onal way t o tel l a st ory r eveals m uch about set ti ng. Usual ly, a set ti ng consist s of t im e and pl ace. I t can also m ean cir cumstances such as Midas ’s mental it y. A set ing m ay be det ai led or sket chy. I t depends on t he novel ist’s pur pose of wr it ing and his idea of works of art . A set ti ng may or may not be symbol ic. Gener al ly, a set ti ng is m ore concer ned wi t h the physi cal aspects. Set ing i s cl osely relat ed wit h exposit ion i n t hat t hey both hel p to make possible the event s in t he novel . I n f act , an exposi ti on must have a set ing. But set ing goes al ong wit h every event i n t he novel wher eas exposi ti on is onl y the i niti ati ng act ion. 1. The el em ent s m aki ng up a set ing By the set ing of a st ory, we si mply m ean i ts pl ace and t ime, the physical , and somet imes spir it ual , backgr ound against which t he act ion of a nar ati ve takes pl ace. Ever y a stor y as shor t as t he one at t he begi nni ng of the i nt roducti on must be set in a cert ain pl ace and t ime: we have an “ol d, shutt ered house” and the pr esent tense suggest s tim e (t hough the present t ense i ndi cat es m uch more t han ti me it sel f in t he story) . The el ement s making up a se t ing ar e gener al ly: ( 1) t he act ual geogr aphi cal l ocati on, i ts t opogr aphy, scener y, and such physical ar angements as the l ocat ion of t he wi ndows and door s in a room。 ( 2) t he occupati ons and dail y manner of l iving of t he char acter s。 (