【正文】 eli 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 an 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。 P, and Faul kner’ s Barn Burning concer n t he t heme of “i nit iati on i nt o m at ur it y. ” Such general descri pt ions of them e can be usef ul, especi al y if we want to sor t a l ar ge num ber of stori es and novels i nt o rough cat egori es, but t he f act hat they ar e simi lar i n them e does not mean t hat they m ean the sam e thing. The at it ude t owards t he t heme may be very dif er ent: t he t one of t reatm ent m ay be, f or example, eit her i c or tr agic, str ai ghtf or ward or i r onic. The writ er ’s vision of li f e i s t he special underl ying fact of a story, and a them e, abst ract ly stated, is not t he sam e t hi ng as a vi si on of li fe. And we suggest anyway that , i n the beginni ng, you l ook for whatever tr ut h or i nsight you t hi nk t he wr it er of a st or y i nt ends to r eveal. Try t o st at e a t hem e in a sentence. By doing so, we wi l fi nd oursel ves looki ng closely at he st or y. Kennedy and Gi oi a m ake a helpf ul suggest ion t o consi der the foll owi ng poi nt s when we think about t he t hem e of a story: Look back once m or e at the ti le of t he st or y. What does it indi cat e i n relati on t o t he whole story? Does the m ai n charact er i n any way change i n the st or y? Does t hi s char act er ar ri ve at any event ual real izati on or underst anding? Ar e you l eft wi th any r eali zati on or under st andi ng aft er f inishi ng r eading the st or y? Does t he author (t hrough t he nar rator) make any gener al obser vati ons about li fe or human nature? Do the charact er s m ake any ( Cauti on: Charact er s now and agai n wi l utter opi ni ons wit h which t he reader i s not necessari ly supposed t o agr e.) Does the st or y contain any especi al ly cur ious obj ect s, m ysteri ous fl at charact er s, si gni fi cant anim al s, repeated names, speci al al lusi ons, or whatever, t hat hi nt towar ds m eani ngs larger t han such things or di naril y have? I n lit erary st ori es, such symbol s or metaphors may poi nt to centr al t hem es. When we have wor ked our statem ent of t hem e, have we cast our statem ent into general anguage, not just given a pl ot summ ar y? Does our statem ent hol d t rue f or the st or y as a whol e, not j ust part of i t? Chapt er Four Seti ng “Once upon a t i me t here l ived a king named M i das i n Phrygi a. He loved gol d more than anyt hi ng el se but his li tl e daught er. ” This i s t he openi ng sentences of “Gol den Touch”, whi ch i nt roduces t he tim e, place, and the usual ment al it y of t he charact er . What is set i ng? An event occur s and a charact er exi st s i n a par ticular t ime and pl ace. Thi s part icul ar tim e and place i s r efer ed t o as set ing. A seti ng i s the backgr ound agai nst whi ch a char acter i s depi ct ed or an event nar rated. It s pur pose i s t o pr ovi de an imagi nar y li nk bet wen what happens i n t he novel a nd what he r eader t akes t o be r eali ty. Li ke some other elem ent s, set ing is not pecul iar to t he novel. The r eader fi nds it ser vi ng t he same purpose in dif ferent genr es. The tr adit ional way t o tel l a st or y reveal s m uch about set ti ng. Usual ly, a set ti ng consist s of t ime and place. It can also m ean ci rcum st ances such as Mi das’s m ent ali ty. A seti ng m ay be det ail ed or sket chy. It depends on the noveli st ’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 symbol ic. Gener al ly, a set ti ng i s m or e concerned wi th t he physi cal aspects. Seti ng i s cl osel y related wit h exposi ti on i n that t hey bot h help t o m ake possi ble t he events i n t he novel. I n f act, an exposit on m ust have a set ti ng. But set ing goes al ong wit h ever y e vent i n t he novel whereas exposi ti on i s only t he i nit iati ng act ion. 1. The elem ent s m aki ng up a set ing By t he set i ng of a st ory, we sim pl y m ean it s pl ace and tim e, t he physical, and som et imes spiri t ual , background agai nst which t he acti on of a nar rati ve takes place. Every a st or y as hor t as the one at he begi nni ng of t he i nt roducti on m ust be set in a cert ai n pl ace and t ime: we have an “ol d, shut tered house” and t he present t ense suggest t ime (t hough t he pr esent tense indi cates m uch more t han tim e i tsel f i n the st or y) . The elem ents maki ng up a set ing ar e gener al ly: (1) t he act ual geogr aphical l ocat ion, it s topography, scener y, and such physi cal ar rangem ent s as t he l ocati on of t he wi ndows and doors i n a r oom。 ( 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