【正文】 t o act, bri ng t hem t o r eali zati ons, or cause t hem t o r eveal t hei r innerm ost natures, as we shal se i n John Cheever ’s short story “The Swimmer”. Fi rst, as we have sai d, the idea of set i ng i ncludes t he physical envi ronm ent of a story: a regi on, a landscape, a cit y, a vil age, a str et, a house—a par ti cular pl ace or a ser ies of places where a story occurs. ( Wher e a st or y t akes pl ace is sometim es cal led its l ocal e.) Pl aces i n fi ct ion not onl y pr ovide a l ocati on f or an acti on or an event of the st or y but al so pr ovoke f eli ngs i n us. A si ght of a gr en fi el d dott ed wit h fl ut eri ng daf fodi ls af ects us very dif ferent ly f rom asi ght of a di ngy al ley, a tr opical j ungl e, or a smal house crowded wit h fur nit ur e. I n addi ti on t o a sense of beauty or ugli ness, we usual y buil d up cert ai n associ at ions when we put oursel ves in such a scene. We ar e depr essed by a di ngy aley, not onl y because i t i s ugl y, but because i t m ay arouse a feel ing, per haps som et imes unconsci ousl y, of povert y, miser y, violence, vi ci ousnes, and t he str uggles of hum an bei ngs who have t o li ve under such conditi ons. A t r opical j ungl e, f or exam pl e, i n Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, mi ght i nvolve a pli cated anal ysis: the pl easur e of the col ours and f orm s of vegetati on, t he disf or t of humi di ty, heat, and i nsect s, a sense of m ystery, horr or, etc. The popul ar it y of Sir Walt er Scott’s “Waver ley” novels i s due in par t o thei r evocati on of a r om anti c mood of Scot land. The Engl ish noveli st Gr aham Greene appar entl y needed t o vi si t a f resh scene in order t o writ e a fr esh novel. Hi s abili ty t o encapsulate t he esence of an exot ic set ing i n a singl e book is exem pl if ied in The Heart of t he M at er 。opinion about , and st at ement of, t he t hem e. Moral i nferences drawn from m ost st ori es: Mor al i nf er ences may be drawn fr om m ost st or ies, no doubt , even when an aut hor does not i nt end his /her story t o be r ead this way. In “A Cl ean, Wel Light ed Pl ace”, we f eel that Hem ingway is i ndir ectl y gi vi ng us advice for pr operl y r egarding and sym pat hizi ng the l onely, t he uncert ai n, and t he ol d. But obvi ousl y t he st or y does not set f or th a l esson that we ar e supposed t o put i nto pract ice. We can say f or sur e that “A Clean, Wel l Li ght ed Place” contains sever al them es and other statem ents coul d be made t o take i n Hemi ngway’s vi ew of love, of m unicat ion bet wen peopl e, of dignity. Great st or ies, li ke gr eat sym phoni es, f requent ly have more t han one t hem e. When we say t hat he t it le of Pri de and Pr ej udi ce conveys the them e of the novel or t hat Uncl e Tom ’s Cabi n and The Gr apes of Wr at h t reat t he t hem es of sl aver y and mi gr at or y labor respecti vel y, this i s t o use them e i n a larger and m or e abst ract sense t han i t i s in our discussi on of Hemi ngway’ s “A Cl ean, Wel Light ed Pl ace. ” In t his l ar ger sense it is r el ati vel y easy t o say that Mar k Twain’s Huckleber y Finn, Updi ke’s A amp。 (3) t he t ime or peri od i n whi ch t he act ion takes place, f or example, t he l at e ei ght ent h cent ur y i n histor y or winter of t he year。 as an envir onm ent, i t absorbs some and r epel s ot her s of the charact er s: t hose who ar e abs or bed achieve a som ber integr at ion wit h i t, but t hose who ar e repel ed and rebel suf er disaster. Som etim es an envi ronm ent serves as more t han a m ere pl ace t o set t he st ory. Oft en, it is i next ri cabl y ent angl ed wi th t he protagonist, and even car ri es st rong sym boli c m eanings. Cat hy as an im age of t he f emi ni ne personal it y, f or exam pl e, i n Emi ly Br onte’s Wuthering Hei ght s, is not supposed t o posses t he “wil dernes” charact eri st ic of m asculi ni ty and sym boli zed by the locales of Heat hcli f and Wut heri ng H ei ghts . I n some fi ct ion, set ti ng i s cl osel y bound wi th t hem e. I n The Scarl et Let ter, even sm al det ai ls af or d powerf ul hi nt s at t he t hem e of t he story. At t he start of t he story, t he nar at or descr i bes a coloni al j ail house: Before t hi s ugly edi fi ce, and bet wen it and t he wheelt rack of the st reet, was a gr ass pl ot , m uch over gr own wit h burdock, pi gweed, appleper u, and such unsi ghtl y vegetati on, whi ch evi dentl y found somethi ng congenial i n the soil t hat had so ear ly borne the bl ack fl ower of civili zed society, a pri son. But, on one si de of t he por tal, and r ooted alm ost at t he thr eshold, was awil d rosebush, covered, i n t hi s m ont h of June, wit h its del icat e gems, which m ight be imagined t o of fer t hei r f ragr ance and fr agil e beaut y to t he pri soner as he went in, and to t he condem ned cr imi nal as he cam e fort h t o his doom , i n t oken t hat the deep hear t of Nat ure could pit y and be ki nd t o him . Appar entl y, the aut hor m akes a cont rast bet wen the ugl y j ai lhouse wi th a t angl ed gr ass pl ot over gr own wit h bur dock and pi gwed and something as beauti ful as a wil d rose. As t he story unfolds, he wi l f urt her suggest t hat secr et sin and a pret y chil d m ay go t oget her li ke a pigwed and wil d r oses. I n this artf ul ly craft ed novel, set ing is i ntim at el y bl ended wi th char acters, sym boli sm, and t hem e. I n addi ti on t o pl ace, set ing may cr ucial y invol ve t he tim e of t he story—cent ur y, year , or even specif ic hour. I t m ay mat er gr eatl y that a story t akes places i n t he m or ni ng or at noon. The m edi eval backgr ound informs us di f er entl y fr om t he t wenti et h century. Kennedy and Gioia not e that i n The Scarl et Let er, t he ni eenthcent ur y author Nathani el Hawt hr one, uti li zes a l ong i nt roducti on an