【正文】 We can say f or sur e that “A Clean, Wel Li ght ed Place” contai ns several themes and other st at ement s coul d be made t o take in Hemingway’s vi ew of love, of m uni cat ion between peopl e, of digni ty. Great st ori es, li ke great symphonies, f requent ly have mor e t han one t heme. When we say t hat t he ti tle of Pr ide and Pr ej udice conveys the t hem e of the novel or that Uncle Tom’s Cabi n and The Gr apes of Wr ath t reat the t hemes of slavery and mi grat or y l abor r espect ively, thi s is t o use t heme in a lar ger and mor e abstr act sense t han it is in our discussion of Hemi ngway’s “A Cl ean, Wel Li ght ed Place.” I n thi s larger sense i t i s rel at ively easy to say t hat Mark Twai n’s Huckleber y Finn, Updike’s A amp。 ( 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 enth cent ur y i n histor y or wint er of t he year 。 as an envir onm ent , i t absorbs some and r epels ot her s of the characters: those who are absorbed achi eve a somber int egr ation wit h it , but t hose who ar e repel ed and rebel suff er di saster . Somet imes an environment serves as m ore than a m ere pl ace to set the st ory. Of ten, i t is i next ri cably ent angl ed wit h the pr otagoni st , and even car ies str ong symboli c meanings. Cat hy as an image of the f emini ne per sonali ty, for exam ple, in Em il y Bront e’s Wuthering Hei ght s, i s not supposed to possess the “wi lderness” char act er ist ic of mascul init y and symbol ized by t he local es of Heat hcl if f and Wutheri ng Hei ght s. I n some f icti on, set ing i s cl osely bound wi th theme. In The Scarlet Let ter, even smal detail s af ord power ful hints at t he theme of the stor y. At t he st art of the stor y, t he nar r at or descri bes a coloni al j ai lhouse: Befor e thi s ugl y edif ice, and between i t and t he wheel tr ack of t he st reet, was a gr ass plot , much over gr own wi th bur dock, pigweed, apple per u, and such unsight ly veget ati on, whi ch evi dentl y f ound somethi ng congenial in t he soi l that had so earl y borne t he black fl ower of ci vi li zed society, a pri son. But , on one side of t he por tal, a nd r oot ed almost at t he thr eshold, was a wi ld r osebush, cover ed, i n thi s month of June, wi th i ts deli cat e gems, whi ch mi ght be i magined to of fer t hei r fr agr ance and f ragil e beauty to t he pri soner as he went i n, and t o the condem ned cr imi nal as he came f ort h to hi s doom , i n t oken t hat t he deep heart of Natur e coul d pit y and be kind t o him. Apparentl y, t he aut hor m akes a contr ast between the ugl y jail house wi th a tangled grass plot over grown wit h burdock and pigweed and somet hi ng as beauti ful as a wi ld r ose. As t he st ory unf ol ds, he wi l f urt her suggest that secret si n and a pr et ty chi ld m ay go toget her l ike a pi gweed and wi l d roses. I n thi s ar tf ull y craf ted novel , set ing i s int imat el y blended wit h characters, sym bol ism, and theme. In addit ion t o place, set ing m ay cr uci al y involve t he ti me of the st or y—centur y, year, or even speci fi c hour . It may mat ter greatl y that a stor y takes places i n the m or ni ng or at noon. The medi eval backgr ound i nfor ms us dif fer ent ly f rom the t wenti et h cent ury. Kennedy and Gi oia note t hat i n The Scarl et Let ter, t he nieent hcentury aut hor Nat hani el Hawt hrone, ut il izes a long i ntr oducti on and a vivid descri pt ion of t he scene at a pr ison door to i nfor m us t hat t he events i n the stor y t ook pl ace i n t he Pur it an munit y of Bost on of the earl ier seventeent h cent ury. This set ti ng, t o whi ch Hawt horne pays so much at ent ion, toget her wi t h our schem at a concerni ng Puri tan practi ce, helps us under st and what happens i n the novel. We can under stand to some ext ent t he agi tati on in the town when a woman i s accused of adult er y, f or adul tery was a fl agr ant def iance of church f or the Godf ear i ng New England Puri tan m uni ty, and an i l egi ti mate chi ld was evidence of sin. Wit hout inf ormat ion about t he seventeent hcentury Pur it an background, a reader t oday m ay be per plexed at t he novel. The f act t hat t he st or y i n Hawt hor ne’ s novel took pl ace i n a t ime remote fr om our own l eads us to expect di f erent at ti tudes and customs of t he character s, i s st rongly suggest ive of the whol e societ y, whi ch is cruci al t o an essent i al under standi ng of The Scarl et Let er as a whol e. Besides place and ti me, set ing m ay also include t he weat her, whi ch, indeed, m ay be cr uci al i n some stor ies. 2. Local color wri ti ng /regionali sm and t he writ er, a regi onal wri ter. When set ti ng dom inates, or when a pi ece of f icti on is wr i t en largely to pr esent the manner s and cust om s of a local it y, t he wr it ing i s of ten cal ed local col or wr i ti ng or r egional ism and the wr it er , a regional wri ter . A regional wr iter usual ly sets hi s/ her stor ies in one geographic ar ea and t ri es to br ing i t al ive t o r eaders everywhere. Thomas Hardy, i n his por tr ayal of li fe i n Wessex, wr ote r egi onal novel s. Ar nold Ben’s novel s of the “Five Towns” ar e mar kedl y regional. Wil li am Faulkner, known as a disti ngui shed r egi onal wr it er, almost always set his novels and stor ies in hi s nat ive Mississi ppi . 3. The set ti ng of a novel is not al ways drawn from a real li fe locale. The set ing of a novel i s not al ways dr awn f rom a r eal l if e local e. Li ter ar y ar tist s somet imes pr ef er to cr eat e the t ot ali ty of t hei r fi ct ion—the set ti ng as wel as char act er s and their acti ons. …… The cr eat ion of set ti ng can be a m agi cal f i ct i onal gif t in a noveli st or stor yt el er . But what ever the set ing of his/her