【正文】 e supposed t o put into practi ce. We can say for sure t hat “A Cl ean, Wel l Lighted Pl ace” contains sever al t hem es and ot her statements could be made to t ake in Hem ingway’ s view of l ove, of municati on bet ween people, of dignit y. Gr eat stor ies, l ike gr eat symphoni es, fr equentl y have more than one theme. When we say that the t it le of Pri de and Prejudi ce conveys t he theme of t he novel or t hat Uncl e Tom ’s Cabin and The Grapes of Wrat h tr eat t he themes of sl aver y and mi gr atory labor respecti vel y, t his i s to use t heme in a l arger and m ore abstr act sense than i t is i n our di scussi on of Hemingway’s “A Clean, Wel l Light ed Pl ace. ” In t his l arger sense it is r elati vel y easy to say that Mar k Twain’s Huckl eber r y Finn, Updike’s A amp。 (3) t he ti me or per iod i n whi ch the acti on takes pl ace, for example, the l at e eighteenth century in hi st ory or wi nte r of the year 。 as an envir onment , it absor bs some and r epel s others of the character s: t hose who ar e abs orbed achieve a som ber i nt egrati on wit h i t, but t hose who ar e r epel ed and rebel suf fer disast er . Som et im es an envi ronment serves as more than a mere place to set t he st ory. Of ten, it i s inext ri cabl y entangl ed wit h t he pr otagonist, and even car ies str ong sym bol ic m eanings. Cat hy as an image of the f emi ni ne per sonali ty, f or example, in Emil y Br ont e’s Wut hering Hei ght s , i s not supposed t o posses t he “wi l dernes” char act eri st ic of mascul ini ty and symboli zed by t he locales of Heat hcl if f and Wuthering Hei ghts . In some f icti on, set ing i s closel y bound wit h theme. In The Scarlet Let t er, even smal l det ai ls af ford power ful hint s at he theme of t he st ory. At the star t of t he st ory, the nar ator descri bes a col oni al j ail house: Bef or e t hi s ugly edif ice, and bet wen i t and the wheeltr ack of the str et , was a gr as pl ot, much overgrown wit h burdock, pi gweed, appl eperu, and such unsi ghtl y vegetat ion, which evident ly found som et hing congeni al i n the soil t hat had so ear ly bor ne the bl ack f lower of civil ized soci et y, a pr ison. But, on one si de of the port al, and rooted alm ost at the t hreshol d, was a wi l d rosebush, covered, in t his mont h of June, wit h it s delicate gems, which m ight be imagined t o off er their f ragrance and fr agi le beauty t o the pr isoner as he went in, and to t he condemned cri minal as he came for th t o his doom, in token that the deep hear t of Nat ure could pi ty and be kind to hi m. Appar ent ly, the author makes a cont rast between t he ugly j ai lhouse wit h a t angl ed gr as pl ot overgr own wi th bur dock and pi gweed and something as beaut if ul as a wil d rose. As the stor y unfolds, he wil l fur ther suggest t hat secr et sin and a pr et y child may go t ogether li ke a pigweed and wi ld r oses. In t his ar t f ul l y cr af ted novel, set ti ng is i nti mately bl ended wi th character s, symbolism, and t heme. I n addi ti on to pl ace, set ting may crucial y i nvol ve the t ime of t he st ory—cent ur y, year, or even speci fi c hour. It m ay mat er gr eat ly t hat a st or y t akes places in t he morni ng or at noon. The m edi eval background i nf orm s us di f erentl y f rom the t went iet h cent ur y. Kennedy and Gioi a note t hat i n The Scarl et Let er, t he ni eent h cent ury author Nathaniel Hawt hr one, uti li zes a long int roduction and a vi vid descr ipt ion of the scene at a pr ison door t o i nf orm us that the event s in the stor y took pl ace i n the Pur it an m uni ty of Boston of t he ear li er sevent enth cent ur y. Thi s set ti ng, t o which Hawt horne pays so m uch at tenti on, t oget her wi th our schemat a concerning Pur it an practi ce, hel ps us under st and wha t happens in the novel . We can under st and to some extent the agit ation in t he town when a woman is accused of adul ter y, f or adult ery was a fl agr ant defi ance of chur ch f or t he Godf ear ing New England Puri tan munit y, and an i l egi ti mate chil d was evidence of sin. Wi thout inf or mati on about t he sevent eent h cent ury Pur i t an backgr ound, a r eader today may be perplexed at the novel . The fact that he story in Hawt horne’s novel t ook place in a ti me r em ot e f rom our own leads us t o expect dif ferent at it udes and custom s of t he char act er s, is str ongl y suggest ive of t he whol e soci ety, which i s cr uci al to an essenti al understanding of The Scarl et Let ter as a whole. Besi des pl ace and t ime, set ti ng may also i ncl ude t he weather, whi ch, i ndeed, m ay be cr ucial in some stor ies. 2. Local col or wri ti ng / regionali sm and t he writ er, a regional writ er. When seti ng dominates, or when a pi ece of f ict ion i s wri t en lar gel y to pr esent the m anners and cust oms of a locali ty, the wr it ing i s oft en cal led l ocal col or wri ti ng or regionali sm and the wr it er, a r egi onal wr it er . A r egi onal wr it er usual ly sets hi s/ her st or ies i n one geogr aphic ar ea and tr ies to br ing it ali ve to r eaders everywher e. Thomas Hardy, in hi s por tr ayal of li f e in Wesex, wr ote r egional novels. Ar nold Ben ’s novel s of the “Five Towns” are m ar kedl y r egi onal . Wil l iam Faul kner, known as a di st inguished regional wr i ter, alm ost always set hi s novels and stor ies in his nati ve Mi ssi ssippi . 3. The set ing of a novel is not always drawn f rom a real li fe l ocal e. The set ing of a novel i s not always dr awn fr om a real li fe l ocal e. Li terar y art ists someti mes pref er t o create t he tot al it y of their f icti on—t he set ting as wel l as character s and t hei r act ions. …… The creati on of set ti ng can be a m agi cal f icti onal gif t in a noveli st or stor ytel er . But what ever t he set ing