【正文】 m eti m es a character‘ s m oti ve f or an acti on i s not expl ai ned on acept abl e gr ounds, f or exampl e, t he vi l ai n i n Adgar Al an Poe‘ st ory ―The Tel Tale Hear t, ‖ and t hus the r eader f els cheat ed. I n t hi s case, t he wr it er of detecti ve fi ct i on who m akes t he crim i nal a mer e lunat i c has cheat ed t he r eader by avoi ding t he pr oblem of m ot i ve.) And gener al y, the act i on i t self i s hum anl y signif i cant and i t ends usual ly i n a shif t in or cl ar if icati on of hum an val ues, as di spl ayed i n John Updi ke‘ s ―A amp。 character。 P,‖ and the m oti vat ion of a char act er in a st or y—one of t he answers t o the question ―why‖—is of fundamental impor tance. I. What is Character? Closely r elated wi th the stor y is t he char act er . Henry James sai d, “What is character but the det erminati on of inci dent ? What i s incident but the i l ust rati on of charact er?‖ (The Art of Fi ct ion‖) When we read a novel , we read about our fel low beings, and t hat i s one of the mot ives in readi ng at al l. The “fel ow bei ngs” i n the novel i s ter med char act ers. By “fel low bei ngs” i s meant not onl y “human beings” but also “other beings, ” such as ani m al s. Geor ge Orwel l uses ani mals to r epr esent hum an bei ngs i n his novel Ani mal Farm. Lewi s Car ol cr eat es many lovely anim al s in hi s Ali ce’s Adventures in Wonderl and that appeal t o both chi ldren and adult s. Or wel does not i nt end to convince the r eader that ani mals can speak human l anguage or that he i s a tr ansl at or bet ween ani mals and humans. No sensi ble r eader, af ter reading Or wel ‘s Ani mal Farm, would go to t he pigsty t o l ook f or a tal ki ng boar . This proves the agreedon f ict ionalit y of char act ers i n novel s. So br oadly, a charact er i s an i nvent ed personal it y t o resembl e but never to equal a real person in l if e. I t is not dif fi cul t to see that char act er s in novels r esembl e peopl e in r eal l if e in many ways. They have names used i n t he same way our s are u。 t heme。 how wr it ers, through t hei r cr eat ive i mpulses, convey t o us their i nsi ghts i nt o human dest iny and human li fe。 poi nt of vi ew。I ntr oduct ion I. Why do we have such course? Engli sh li ter at ure i s one of t he pul sor y and m ost im por tant cour ses. However, t he Engl ish l it er atur e cour ses off er ed ar e mer el y taught at t he l evel of l ear ni ng gener al i nf orm at i on and devel opi ng li t er al understanding. Adm it t edl y, such courses hel p t hem/ you a l ot i n t heir / your acqui sit i on of t he Engl i sh l anguage. But t he f unct i on of Engli sh li ter at ure r eaches far beyond t hat . In r eadi ng Engl ish l it er atur e, a st udent should have t he power t o di scer n how human beings tr ansl at e t heir experi ence i nt o art isti c expr essi on and r epresent at ion。 char act er 。 P, ‖ and t he m ot i vati on of a char act er i n a st or y—one of t he answers t o t he quest i on ―why‖—i s of f undam ent al i m port ance. I. What is Character? Cl osel y r el ated wi t h the stor y is t he char act er . Henr y Jam es sai d, “What i s character but the det erm inati on of i nci dent ? What i s i nci dent but t he i l ust rat i on of charact er?‖ (The Art of Fi ct i on‖) When we read a novel , we read about our fel low bei ngs, and t hat i s one of the m ot ives i n readi ng at al l. The “fel low bei ngs” i n t he novel is t er med char act ers. By “fel low bei ngs” i s meant not onl y “human bei ngs” but also “other bei ngs, ” such as ani mals. Gee Or wel uses anim al s t o r epr esent hum an bei ngs i n his novel Ani mal Farm. Lewi s Car r ol cr eat es m any l ovel y anim al s in hi s Ali ce’s Advent ures i n Wonderl and that appeal t o bot h chil dr en and adult s. Or wel does not i nt end t o convince t he r eader t hat ani mal s can speak hum an l anguage or that he i s a t ransl ator bet ween ani mals and humans. No sensibl e reader, after readi ng Orwel ‘s Ani mal Farm, woul d go t o t he pi gst y to l ook f or a t alki ng boar. Thi s pr oves t he agr eed on fi cti onali t y of char act er s in novels. So broadly, a character i s an i nvent ed personali t y t o resem ble but never to equal a real person i n l if e. I t is not di f fi cult t o see that char act er s i n novels r esem bl e peopl e in r eal l if e i n m any ways. They have names used i n t he sam e way our s are used, t hey have hatr ed and love, and t hey have desi r es and f ear s. Above al, t hey act t he way we act or t he way we can under st and (l i ke or di sli ke). But we m ust bear i n mi nd that the char act ers ar e not r eal persons, but m er el y i nvent i ons, however i ngeni ous. Com pare t he physical ife and spi ri t ual li fe of t he charact ers and ours. We have to answer t he nat ure‘s cal l several tim es a day, but char act er s sel dom do t hi s, even i n t he m ost reali st ic or natur al isti c novel s. We have t o li ve our li fe hour by hour and day by day, but char act er s never do t hi s. They choose t o li ve som e ti me m or e f ul l y tha n ot hers, and ar e able t o ski p over per i ods on t en m ont hs or t went y year s wit hout seemi ng weir d, a f eat which we can never at tempt. In our li fe, our m i nds are a gray mat er even t o sci ent ists. We can not know what i s going on i n ot her‘s mi nd. But i n novel s, t he m i nds of t he character s ar e open or can be m ade open t o the r eader if t he noveli st so chooses. The r eader does not onl y s ee t heir cl ot hes, but al so see t hei r m i nds. One char act er m ay be enemy t o ot her char act er s, but he i s fr iend t o the r eader, befor e whom he can t hi nk aloud, t o borrow Em erson‘s words. Charact ers do not li ve, but act . When we wat ch act ors speak al oud t o t hem sel ves on t he st age as i f they wer e al on