【正文】 y a subj ect. A subject may be univer sal. The subj ects of The Scarl et Leter, The Great Gatsby, and Women in Love ar e al “l(fā)ove.” But these novel s have dif ferent t hemes. A theme i s part icul ar to i ts novel, though ther e ar e many si mil ar themes t o be f ound in other novels. I I. Five Requirement s for St at ing a Theme The st at ement of a theme may be br ief or long. And t here are dif ferent ways t o expres one and the same theme. But it shoul d met the foll owi ng r equirement s. A theme must be expresed in the f orm of a st at ement with a subj ect and a predicate. For example, “Love of one’s countr y of ten inspir es her oi c self sacri fice.” If a theme is expresed i n the form of a phr ase, t hen the phr ase must be conver ti bl e to sentence form. One can say that he t heme of a novel i s “f ut il ity of envy. ” The phr ase can be changed t o “envy is f ut il e.” When one chooses to state atheme i n the phr ase form, he must be ver y careful about it s convert ibili ty to sent ence f or m. For inst ance ,the phr ase “sel fl ess mater nal ove” does not always mean that “mat er nal love i s self ess. ” The t heme is general izat ion about l if e based on the novel, and t he statement of theme should be t rue also of other people or li fe si tuations. Ther ef or e, names of characters and places shoul d not be mentioned, for they suggest specif ic things and invite l imit at ions. So i n themati c di scussi on of Wuthering Heights, one may ment ion “people’s psychology of revenge, ” but not “Heat hcli f ’s.” Though a theme i s a general izat ion, overgenerali zat ion shoul d be avoi ded. Si nce atheme i s extr acted fr om a part icul ar novel ( a part icul ar event) , i t may not be appl icable t o al l sit uati ons. So words like “always,” “never,” “al l,” and “ever y” should be avoided. I nstead, one should use words li ke “some,” “somet imes,” and “m ay. ” When making a gener al izat ion, one should str ict ly keep to what i s actual ly i n the novel and not smuggle into i t assumpt ions suppli ed f rom his past experi ence. Since t heme i s t he cent ral and unif yi ng i dea of the novel , i t must account f or all t he maj or det ails and must not be contradicted by an detail s in t he novel. Since a t heme is dif ferent from a moral or a lesson, one should avoid reduci ng a t heme t o a cl ich233。 and the ol der wai ter stops at a coff e bar on his way home—but whi le t he events themselves sem r el at ivel y sli ght , t he story as a whole is f ul l of meaning. For a deep under st anding of t he meaning, we have t o look t o ot her el ements of t he story bes。 and the ol der wai ter stops at a coff e bar on his way home—but whi le t he events themselves sem r el at ivel y sli ght , t he story as a whole is f ul l of meaning. For a deep under st andi ng of t he m eani ng, we have t o l ook t o ot her el em ent s of t he st or y besi des what happens i n i t : nar r at i ve, sym b ol s, t one, t he di al ogue bet ween t he t wo wai t er s, t he m onol ogue of t he ol der wai t er , et c. Evi dent l y t he aut hor i nt ends us t o pay m or e at t ent i on t o t he t hought s and f eel i ngs of t he ol der wai t er , t he char act er whose wor ds echo t he aut hor ’s voi ce. One t r y on t he t hem e m ay be: “The ol der wai t er under st ands t he ol d m an and sym pat hi zes wi t h hi s need f or a cl ean, wel l l i ght ed pl ace. ” But her e we ar e st i l l t al ki ng about what happens i n t he st or y, t hough we ar e not t r oubl e wit h the hero Jordan, yet he i s a main char acter as his wif e Pi lar is. Mi nor charact er s ar e t hose in remote and static r el at ion wit h the hero. It is wrong to think that mi nor charact er s ar e al l unimpor tant . I n some novels, one or some of the minor character s may serve a cr it cal role, str uctural y or int er pr et at ional y. Foi l charact ers are ones that help enhance t he i nt ensit y of the hero by st rengt hening or cont rast ing. They m ay be main characters or minor characters. I n a wor d, t hey serve as f oils t o the hero or heroine. Cohn in The Sun Also Ri ses is a good exampl e. He is one of the mai n charact ers. Like Jake, he i s al so “l(fā)ost ,” tryi ng vainly to escape t he past by courting women and drinki ng. But during their st ay i n Spain, Cohn di splays quali ti es in cont rast to t hose cher ished by Jake, whi ch makes Jake real ize hi s own problems and finaly f ind a soluti on, though tempor ar ily. Cohn works mainl y by contr ast. Wi lson i n The Great Gatsby works by pr esenti ng. Gat sby lost his lover t o Tom and Wilson lost his wife to Tom. By present ing Wil son’s case t he noveli st intends to point out the profound cause of Gatsby’s t ragedy. Dr. Watson i n the st or ies of Sherl ock Holmes serves as a foil to t he her o, renderi ng t he detect ive smart er than he woul d ot her wi se appear t o the reader . By t he degr e of thei r development, characters can be grouped as round characters and f lat charact ers. This di vi si on i s pr oposed by E. M Forster. Round characters are f ul ly devel oped whi le fl at charact ers ar e not. Or we can say that round characters grow whil e fl at characters do not . Usual y the reader i s al lowed aces to t he i nner l if e of the round char acter and per mit ed t o learn about many sides of the round character. The fl at character i s a “closed” character to whose inner thought s the reader i s deni ed acces. Usual ly one side of t he f lat char acter i s shown in the novel . Most heroes are round charact ers who gr ow emoti onaly or spir itualy. Chapter Three Theme Aristotl e in Poet ics l ists si x basic el ements of t ragedy. Melody ( song) and dicti on ( language) f al l i n the gener al cat egor y of style, and spect acle is r el evant to set ti ng i n our di scussion of f ict ion. The ot her three aspect