【正文】 t o t hi nk that mi nor characters ar e al unimpor tant. I n som e novels, one or some of t he minor char act ers m ay ser ve a cr it ical rol e, str uct ural y or int er pret at ional y. Foil charact ers are ones that hel p enhance the i ntensi ty of t he hero by strengt heni ng or cont rast ing. They may be m ain charact ers or m inor characters. I n a wor d, they ser ve as foil s to the hero or heroi ne. Cohn i n The Sun Also Ri ses i s a good exampl e. He is one of the mai n char act ers. Like Jake, he is al so “l(fā) ost ,” t rying vai nl y t o escape the past by court ing wom en and drinking. But during t heir stay i n Spai n, Cohn di spl ays quali ti es i n cont rast to t hose cheri shed by Jake, whi ch makes Jake reali ze hi s own pr obl ems and fi nal ly f ind a sol ut ion, though tempor ar il y. Cohn wor ks mainl y by cont rast. Wilson i n The Gr eat Gatsby wor ks by present ing. Gat sby lost hi s lover to Tom and Wi lson lost hi s wi fe t o Tom. By presenti ng Wil son’s case the novel ist i nt ends t o poi nt out t he profound cause of Gat sby’s t ragedy. Dr. Watson i n the stori es of Sherlock Holm es serves as a foi l t o t he hero, renderi ng the detect i ve sm arter t han he woul d other wi se appear t o t he reader . By t he degr e of t hei r development, charact ers can be grouped as round characters and fl at charact ers. This di vi si on i s pr oposed by E. M For st er. Round charact ers ar e full y devel oped whi l e f l at charact ers ar e not . Or we can say t hat round charact ers gr ow whil e f lat characters do not . Usual ly t he r eader i s al owed aces t o t he i nner l if e of t he round charact er and permi t ed to l earn about m any si des of t he round charact er. The fl at charact er is a “cl osed” char act er t o whose i nner t hought s t he r eader i s deni ed access. Usual l y one si de of t he fl at character is shown i n t he novel. Mos t heroes are round charact ers who gr ow em ot ional l y or spir it ual l y. Chapt er Three Them e Ari st otl e in Poeti cs li st s si x basi c elements of t ragedy. M el ody ( song) and dicti on (l anguage) f al l i n t he gener al categor y of style, and spectacle i s r el evant to set ing i n our discussion of fi cti on. The other thr e aspect s are myt hos or pl ot, ethos or character , and di anoia, whi ch we gener al ly t r anslate into “t hought” in Engli sh. According to Ar istot le, plot is t he “soul” or shapi ng pri nci ple or f icti on, and char act ers exist pri mari ly as f unct ions of the plot . I n most of the stor ies, pl ot pl ays t he rol e of pr incipal str uct ur e of the st or y. But , as Nort hr op Fr ye poi nt s out, besi des t he inter nal f icti on of the character and hi s/her society, ther e is an exter nal f icti on consisti ng of a rel at ion between t he wr it er and t he wri ter ’s soci ety. We i ndeed have lit erar y works by t he li kes of Shakespear e and Homer in whi ch art istr y i s pl etely absor bed in their i nt ernal character s and we can har dly perceive t he exi st ence of t he aut hor . However , as soon as the author’ s personal it y appears on t he hori zon, a r el at ion wi t h the r eader is establi shed, and someti mes ther e seems no stor y at al l apar t fr om what the author is conveyi ng to hi s/ her eader . I n t hi s case, t he pr i m ar y i nt erest i n dianoia, the i dea or t hought that reader gets f r om t he wri ter, whi ch in moder n cri ti ci sm we general ly cal “theme”. I. What Is Theme? One of t he saf est ments t o make about novel s is on t he theme. Ever yone i s entit led t o extr act a t hem e based upon hi s under st andi ng of the novel . Theme may be the m ost democr ati c elements i n li ter at ure, because i ts def init ion i s the l east restr icti ve. The t hem e of a novel is i ts contr oll ing i dea or i ts cent ral insight . Bei ng an idea or an insight, t he theme shoul d be abst ract and i t should generali ze about li fe. Label ed as contr oll ing or cent ral , t he theme should be capabl e of uni fying the whole novel. So t he theme of a story, then, is whatever general i dea or i nsight the ent ir e st ory r eveal s. I . Clar if icati on about Them e Common as i t i s, t hem e suf fer s som e mi sunder standi ngs. One m isconcept ion about t hem e is t hat each novel has a theme or themes, or t hem e is i mport ant t o al novel s. I n f act , some novels, i nter esti ng ones t hough, do not pr ovide any insight int o li fe. For exam pl e, m any novels of r at iocinati on and novel s of hor ror. These novels ar e aimed at entert aining t he reader , not at im pr oving hi s underst anding of l if e. They may someti mes touch upon the human natur e or social problems, but these i sues ar e only used t o push t he plot for ward and t hey ar e not ment ioned f or t hei r own value. Theme exi st s onl y i n the novel t hat seri ousl y atem pt s to refl ect l if e fai thful ly or i ntends to r eveal tr uth about l if e, or i n the novels t hat are based on ideas or t heor ies of li fe. ( for exam pl e, novels of ideas) . Another misconcepti on about theme i s that the t hem e is l ar gely what the novel i s. Some people di scard the novel when t hey t hink t hat t hey have got the t heme. It should be m ade clear that the novel i s not wr i t en to convey an idea but t o convey an i dea ar ti st ical y. The novel i s a wor k of ar t whereas the t heme is only an abstr act i dea. An anal ogy fr om dail y l if e may help cl ar if y t hi s questi on. People al l need vit amins and get hem f rom var ious kinds of veget abl es and f rui ts. Only t hose wi th def iciency of one ki nd or anot her have to take vit am in pi l s to get the r equi red amount. The dif fer ence between t he theme and the novel i s much l ike t hat between the vi tami ns and t he vegetables. The reader someti mes fi nds that he theme of a no