【正文】 on: Characters now and again wil l ut ter opini ons wi th which t he reader i s not necessar il y supposed to agree.) Does t he st ory cont ai n any especial ly curi ous obj ect s, myster ious fl at character s, signif icant ani mals, repeat ed names, special al lusions, or whatever, t hat hint t owar ds meani ngs larger than such things ordi nar il y have? I n l it er ary stor ies, such symbol s or metaphors may poi nt t o cent ral themes. When we have worked our st atement of t hem e, have we cast our statement into general language, not j ust gi ven a pl ot summ ar y? Does our stat em ent hold t rue f or the stor y as a whole, not j ust part of it ? Chapt er Four Set ti ng “Once upon a ti me t here li ved a king named Mi das in Phrygi a. He loved gol d more than anything el se but his l it tl e daught er.” Thi s is t he opening sentences of “Golden Touch”, which i ntr oduces the t ime, place, and t he usual ment ali ty of the character. What is set t ing? An event occurs and a character exi st s in a par ti cul ar ti me and place. Thi s par ti cul ar t ime and pl ace i s r ef er ed to as set ing. A set t ing i s the backgr ound against which a character is depicted or an event nar ated. I ts pur pose i s to pr ovi de an imagi nar y l ink between what happens in t he novel and what t he reader t akes t o be reali ty. Like some ot her elements, set ti ng is not peculi ar to t he novel. The r eader fi nds it ser ving t he same pur pose i n dif fer ent genres. The t radit ional way to t el a st or y r eveal s much about seti ng. Usual y, a set ing consi st s of ti me and place. I t can al so mean ci rcumstances such as Mi das ’s m ent alit y. A set ti ng may be detail ed or sketchy. I t depends on the novel ist’ s purpose of wri ti ng and hi s idea of wor ks of art . A set ing may or may not be sym bol ic. Gener al y, a set ing i s more concer ned wi th t he physical aspect s. Set ing i s closel y r el ated wi th exposi ti on in that hey bot h help t o make possi bl e the events i n the novel. In fact, an exposit ion m ust have a set ting. But set ti ng goes along wi th every event in t he novel whereas exposit ion i s onl y t he init iati ng action. 1. The elements m aking up a set ti ng By t he set ti ng of a story, we si mpl y mean it s place and tim e, t he physical, and som etim es spir it ual, background agai nst whi ch the acti on of a nar rat ive takes place. Every a st ory as short as the one at the beginning of t he i ntr oduct ion must be set in a cer tai n place and tim e: we have an “old, shut ter ed house” and t he present t ense suggest s ti me ( though the pr esent tense i ndicates much mor e than ti me i tself i n the stor y). The elements maki ng up a set ti ng are gener al y: ( 1) the actual geographical locat ion, it s topography, scenery, and such physi cal ar angement s as t he locati on of t he wi ndows and doors i n a r oom。 his contemporar y Evelyn Waugh stated t hat t he West Af r ica of that book replaced the tr ue r em em ber ed West Af r ica of his own experi ence. Such power is not unm on: t he Yorkshi re moors have been r omantici zed because Emi ly Bronte wrot e of them i n Wut hering Hei ght s, and l it er ary t ouri st s have vi si ted St okeon Trent in nor t her n England because it pri ses t he “Fi ve Towns” of Ar nol d Ben ’s novel s of the earl y twent ieth centur y. Thus, a reader ’s r eact ion t o a place is not mer el y based upon the way it looks, but upon the potenti alit ies of action suggest ed by it . Pl aces m at t er greatl y to many writ ers . For instance, the Fr ench noveli st Balzac, bef or e wr it ing a st or y set in a t own, he woul d go and visit t hat t own, select a few lanes and houses, and descri bes t hem in det ai l, down t o their ver y sm els. In his view the place i n which an event occur s was of equal moment wit h t he event it self , and it has a par t to pl ay. Another exampl e is Thomas Har dy, under whom the pr esentati on of set ting assum es an unusual i mport ance. Hi s “Wessex” vil lages cast int angibl y such as spel l upon the vil lager s t hat once they leave their hometowns t hey wil l inevitably suf fer f rom disaster s, and t he fart her t hey ar e away f rom their hometowns, the mor e, t er ible their disast ers wi l be. For example, in the Tes of t he D’Urbervi l es, the Val e of Bl akemor e was t he pl ace wher e Tes was bor n and her l if e was to unf old. Ever y contour of t he sur r ounding hi l s w。 ( 3) the t ime or peri od in which t he act ion t akes place, f or exampl e, t he late ei ght eent h cent ur y i n histor y or wint er of t he year 。 she l oved t he place and was l oved in t he place. The vale, f ar f rom the m addi ng cr owd of t he civil i zed cit y, was as serene and pur e as t he i nhabit ant s. Tess, im bued deepl y wit h t he nat ur al hue of t he val e and bound cl osel y t o t hi s worl d of si m pli cit y and secl usi on, experi enced her own deli ght and happi ness t hough her fami ly was poor. I t was, t o som e ext ent , her depar t ur e fr om her nat i ve pl ace t hat l ed t o her t ragedy. I n The Ret urn of t he Nat ive, t he atm ospher e of Egdon Heat h pr evail s over t he whol e book。 ( 2) t he occupat ions and dai l y m anner of li vi ng of t he characters。 P, and Faul kner ’ s Bar n Bur ni ng concer n t he t hem e of “i ni ti ati on int o m at ur it y. ” Such general descri pti ons of t hem e can be useful, especi al ly i f we want t o sor t a lar ge num ber of st ori es and novel s i nt o r ough cat egori es, but t he f act t hat t hey ar e sim il ar i n t hem e does not mean t hat they mean t he same t hing. The at ti tude t owar ds the t hem e m ay be ver y di f er ent : t he t one of t r eatm ent m ay be, f or exam ple, ei t her ic or t ragic, st r ai ght f or war d or i r oni c. The wr it er’ s vi si on of li f e i s t h