【正文】 d a vi vi d descri pt ion of t he scene at a pr ison door t o i nform us t hat he events i n t he st or y t ook place i n the Pur itan m unit y of Boston of t he earli er sevent ent h century. This set ti ng, t o whi ch Hawthorne pays so much at enti on, together wi th our schem at a concerning Pur itan pract ice, hel ps us under st and what happens i n the novel . We can under st and t o som e extent t he agi tati on i n t he t own when a woman is acused of adult er y, f or adult er y was a fl agr ant defi ance of church f or the God fear ing New England Purit an m unit y, and an il legi tim at e chil d was evi dence of si n. Wit hout i nf ormati on about t he sevent ent hcentur y Puri tan background, a reader t oday m ay be per pl exed at the novel . The fact t hat he st or y i n Hawt horne’ s novel took pl ace in a tim e rem ot e fr om our own l eads us t o expect dif ferent ati tudes and cust oms of t he char acters, i s st rongl y suggesti ve of the whol e soci et y, whi ch i s cr ucial to an essent ial under st andi ng of The Scarlet Let er as a whole. Besi des pl ace and t ime, set ti ng may al so i ncl ude the weat her, whi ch, indeed, m ay be cruci al i n som e st or ies. 2. Local col or writ ng /regional ism and the wri ter, a regi onal wri ter. When set ti ng dom inat es, or when a piece of fi cti on i s writ ten largel y to present t he manners and cust oms of a l ocalit y, t he wri ti ng i s of ten cal ed l ocal col or wri ti ng or regi onali sm and the writ er , a r egi onal wri ter. A r egional writ er usual y set s hi s/ her st or ies i n one geographi c ar ea and t ri es to bri ng i t ali ve t o readers everywher e. Thomas Har dy, i n hi s port rayal of l if e i n Wesex, wr ot e regi onal novel s. Arnol d Ben t’s novels of t he “Five Towns” are markedl y regi onal . Wil li am Faulkner, known as a disti nguished regi onal wr it er , alm ost al ways set his novel s and st ori es in his nat ive Missi sippi . 3. The set t ing of a novel i s not always drawn f rom a real li fe local e. The set ti ng of a novel is not always drawn fr om a real l ife l ocal e. Lit er ar y ar ti st someti mes prefer to creat e the totalit y of t heir fi ct ion—the set ing as wel as characters and t heir act ions. …… The cr eati on of set ing can be a m agical fi ct ional gi ft in aopinion 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。 ( 4) the gener al envir onment of t he char act ers, for exam pl e, reli gi ous, ment al , m or al, social, and em ot ional condi ti ons through which charact er s i n the st or y m ove. ( Hol man and Harm an, A Handbook to li terat ure, 1986) But of ten, i n an ef f ect i ve st or y, set ti ng may fi gure as m or e than m er e background. I t can m ake thi ngs happen. It can pr ompt char act ers 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 e