【正文】 opi ni on about , and st at em ent of, t he t heme. Moral i nf erences drawn from m ost st ori es: Mor al i nf erences m ay be drawn f r om m ost st ori es, no doubt , even when an author does not i nt end hi s/ her st or y t o be r ead t hi s way. I n “A Cl ean, Wel l Li ght ed Pl ace”, we f el t hat Hemi ngway i s i ndi rect l y gi vi ng us advice f or pr oper l y r egar ding and sym pat hizi ng t he l onely, t he uncer t ai n, and t he ol d. But obvi ously t he st or y does not set f or t h a lesson t hat we ar e supposed to put i nt o pr acti ce. We can say f or sur e t hat “A Cl ean, Wel Li ght ed Place” cont ai ns sever al them es and ot her st at em ent s coul d be made t o take i n Hem i ngway’s vi ew of l ove, of m uni cati on bet ween peopl e, of di gnit y. Gr eat st ori es, li ke great sym phonies, f r equent l y have m or e t han one t hem e. When we say t hat t he ti l e of Pr i de and Pr ej udi ce conveys t he t hem e of t he novel or t hat Uncle Tom’ s Cabi n and The Gr apes of Wr at h t r eat t he t hem es of sl aver y and m igr at ory l abor r espect i vel y, t hi s is t o use them e i n a l ar ger and m or e abst ract sense t han i t is i n our discussion of Hemi ngway’ s “A Cl ean, Wel Li ght ed Place. ” I n t hi s lar ger sense it i s r el at i vel y easy t o say t hat Mark Twai n’s Huckleber r y Finn, Updi ke’ s A amp。 P, and Faul kner ’s Bar n Bur ni ng concer n t he t heme of “i ni ti at i on i nto m at uri ty. ” Such gener al descri pt i ons of t heme can be usef ul, especial y i f we want t o sort a l arge number of st or i es and novel s i nt o r ough categor i es, but t he fact that hey are sim il ar i n t hem e does not m ean that hey mean t he sam e t hi ng. The at ti ude t owar ds t he t hem e m ay be ver y dif f er ent : the t one of t r eatm ent m ay be, f or exam pl e, ei t her ic or t ragic, st r ai ght f or ward or i r oni c. The wr it er ’ s vi si on of li fe i s t he speci al underl ying f act of a stor y, and a t hem e, abst ractl y st ated, is not the sam e t hi ng as a visi on of l if e. And we suggest anyway t hat, i n t he begi nni ng, you l ook f or what ever t rut h or i nsi ght you t hink t he wri t er of a stor y i nt ends t o reveal . Try t o stat e a theme i n a sent ence. By doing so, we wi l fi nd ourselves l ooki ng cl osely at t he st or y. Kennedy and Gi oi a make a helpf ul suggesti on t o consi der t he f ol lowi ng poi nts when we t hi nk about t he t heme of a st or y: Look back once m or e at t he t it l e of t he st or y. What does i t indi cate i n r el ati on to t he whole st or y? Does the m ai n char act er i n any way change i n t he st or y? Does thi s char act er ar i ve at any event ual r eali zat ion or under st andi ng? Ar e you l eft wi t h any r eal i zati on or underst andi ng af ter fi nishing r eadi ng the st or y? Does t he aut hor (t hr ough the nar ator) m ake any gener al observati ons about l if e or hum an nat ur e? Do the char act ers m ake any ( Caut i on: Characters now and agai n wil l ut t er opini ons wi t h which t he reader i s not necessar il y supposed to agr e.) Does t he st ory contai n any especi al l y cur ious obj ect s, m yst er i ous f lat char act er s, si gni fi cant ani mals, r epeat ed nam es, speci al al usi ons, or what ever , t hat hi nt t owards m eanings l ar ger t han such t hi ngs or dinari ly have? I n l it erar y st ori es, such symbols or m et aphor s m ay poi nt to centr al t hem es. When we have wor ked our stat em ent of t heme, have we cast our st at em ent i nt o gener al l anguage, not j ust gi ven a plot summ ar y? Does our st at em ent hol d t r ue for t he st or y as a whol e, not just par t of i t? Chapt er Four Set i ng “Once upon a t i me there l i ved a ki ng named M i das i n Phrygi a. He loved gol d more t han anythi ng el se but hi s l it tl e daught er. ” Thi s is t he openi ng sent ences of “Gol den Touch”, whi ch int roduces t he tim e, pl ace, and the usual m ent al it y of the char act er. What i s set ti ng? An event occur s and a char act er exi st s i n a par ti cul ar tim e and place. Thi s par ti cul ar t im e and place is r efer ed t o as set i ng. A set i ng is t he backgr ound agai nst whi ch a char act er i s depi ct ed or an event nar at ed. I ts pur pose i s to pr ovi de an im agi nar y l ink bet wen what happens i n t he novel and what the r eader takes to be r eal it y. Li ke som e other el em ent s, set i ng i s not peculi ar t o t he novel. The r eader fi nds i t ser ving t he sam e pur pose i n dif f er ent genres. The t r adit i onal way t o tel a st or y r eveals m uch about set i ng. Usual l y, a set ti ng consi st s of t im e and place. I t can al so m ean ci r cumst ances such as Mi das ’ s m ent alit y. A set ti ng may be det ail ed or sketchy. I t depends on t he novel ist’ s pur pose of wri ti ng and hi s i dea of wor ks of art . A set ing m ay or m ay not be sym bol i c. General y, a set i ng i s mor e concerned wi th t he physi cal aspect s. Set ti ng is cl osel y r el ated wi t h exposi ti on i n that they bot h hel p t o m ake possi bl e t he events i n t he novel. I n f act, an expos it i on m ust have a set ti ng. But set ti ng goes al ong wit h ever y event i n the novel wher eas exposit i on i s only t he i nit i at ing acti on. 1. The elem ent s m aki ng up a set ti ng By t he set ing of a st ory, we sim pl y m ean it s pl ace and ti me, the physi cal , and sometim es spi ri t ual, backgr ound against which t he acti on of a nar at i ve t akes pl ace. Ever y a stor y as short as t he one at t he begi nni ng of t he i nt roduct i on m ust be set i n a cert ai n pl ace and ti me: we have an “ol d, shutt er ed house” and t he pr esent t ense suggests t im e (t hough t he present t ense i ndi cat es m uch m or e t han t im e it sel f i n t he st or y). The el em ent s making up a set i n