【正文】 scr ibing or narati ng i n great detail . Yet, sometimes he emphasizes it by leaving it out , as in t he case of Er nest Hemingway. The point concerned here is t hat why t he noveli st gi ves more atention to t hi s part icul ar character , since or event but not others. How t he noveli st deals wi th a mon subj ect. Of ten the noveli st has t o incl ude in his work some mon subj ects, but i f he tr eats t he mon subjects in an unmon way, it shows that he is tr yi ng t o convey something new or important i n the novel . Maybe i t i s the theme t hat demands hi m to do so. Im portant symbols. Symbol s are l oaded wi th import ant meani ngs. So if a symbol appear s repeatedl y or at i mpor tant moments, i t may point t o the theme of the novel . A good example i s t he l et ter “A” in The Scarl et Let ter. Im portant speeches. Character s talk and i n thei r tal k ar e revealed thei r j udgments of the ot her charact er s or event. The charact er s’ judgments may gi ve i m por t ant clues to the theme. V. Obvious and unobvious t heme Obvi ous theme: The theme of a stor y, si nce we know, i s whatever gener al idea or insight the ent ire story r eveal s. In some stori es, the theme is r at her obvious. For exampl e, in Aesop’s f able about t he council of the mice that cannot decide who wil bel l t he cat, the theme is stated in t he moral at the end: “It i s easier to propose a thing than t o car y it out .” In some novels, the ti le may of fer a suggesti on about the mai n theme. For exampl e, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prej udice is nam ed aft er it s t heme, and the whole story unfolds itsel f ar ound that theme. In som e novels, the ti le is not so named but the pl ot exi st s pr imaril y to il lust rate the theme and it is not ver y dif icul t for us to i nf er what it i s. For exampl e, Uncl e Tom’s Cabi n by and The Grapes of Wrat h by John St einbeck voi ce t he t hemes of sl aver y and mi gr at or y labor respect ivel y. The t itl e of The Grapes of Wrath es fr om a line in an extr em ely f amous Civil War song, “The Bat le Hymn of the Republic.” The l ine is, “He is tr ampl ing out the vi nt age wher e t he Gr apes of wrath are stored,” whi ch means “an unjust or oppr essi ve sit uati on, acti on or poli cy t hat may i nf l ame desi re for vengeance: an explosi ve condit ion. ” The song was wr it en by a famous and i nf luent ial social acti vi st, Jul ia Ward Howe. Unobvious t heme: But i n most lit er ar y wor ks of fi ct ion, the theme is seldom so obvi ous. That is, gener al ly a them e i s not a mor al nor a mesage, neither i s it cl earl y conveyed in t he t itl e. When we finish readi ng a f inel y wrought story, it is easier t o sum up the plot—t o say what happens—t han to descri be t he main i dea. To say of James Joyce’s “Araby” that i t i s about a boy who goes to a bazar to buy a gif t for a young woman but ar ives t oo l at e is to summari ze plot, not t heme. I n many fi ne shor t stori es, t heme is t he center, the movi ng f orce, the pr inciple of unity. Clear ly, such a them e i s somet hing mor e than t he char acters and events of t he story. Most of the short stories chal enge an easy e theme. In Hemingway’s “A Clean, Wel l Li ghted Place,” as obser ved by Kennedy and Gioia, the events are r at her si mpl e—a young waiter manages to get r id of t he old man fr om the caf 233。troubl e wit h the hero Jordan, yet he i s a main char acter as his wif e Pi lar is. Mi nor charact er s ar e t hose in remote and static r el at ion wit h the hero. It is wrong to think that mi nor charact er s ar e al l unimpor tant . I n some novels, one or some of the minor character s may serve a cr it cal role, str uctural y or int er pr et at ional y. Foi l charact ers are ones that help enhance t he i nt ensit y of the hero by st rengt hening or cont rast ing. They m ay be main characters or minor characters. I n a wor d, t hey serve as f oils t o the hero or heroine. Cohn in The Sun Also Ri ses is a good exampl e. He is one of the mai n charact ers. Like Jake, he i s al so “l(fā)ost ,” tryi ng vainly to escape t he past by cour ting women and dr inki ng. But dur ing their st ay i n Spain, Cohn di splays quali ti es in cont rast to t hose cher ished by Jake, whi ch makes Jake real ize hi s own problems and finaly f ind a soluti on, though tempor ar ily. Cohn works mainl y by contr ast. Wi lson i n The Great Gatsby works by pr esenti ng. Gat sby lost his lover t o Tom and Wilson lost his wif e to Tom. By present ing Wil son’s case t he noveli st intends to point out the profound cause of Gatsby’s t ragedy. Dr. Watson i n the st ories of Sherl ock Holmes serves as a foil to t he her o, renderi ng t he detect ive smart er than he woul d ot her wi se appear t o the reader . By t he degr e of thei r development, characters can be grouped as round characters and f lat charact ers. This di vi si on i s pr oposed by E. M Forster. Round characters are f ul ly devel oped whi le fl at charact ers ar e not. Or we can say that round characters grow whil e fl at characters do not . Usual y the reader i s al lowed aces to t he i nner l if e of the round char acter and per mit ed t o lear n about many sides of the round character. The fl at character i s a “closed” character to whose inner thought s the reader i s deni ed acces. Usual ly one side of t he f lat char acter i s shown in the novel . Most heroes are round charact ers who gr ow emoti onaly or spir itualy. Chapter Three Theme Aristotl e in Poet ics l ists si x basic el ements of t ragedy. Melody ( song) and dicti on ( language) f al l i n the gener al cat egor y of style, and spect acle is r el evant to set ti ng i n our di scussion of f ict ion. The ot her three aspects ar e mythos or pl ot , ethos or charact er , and di anoia, which we gener al ly tr anslate into “thought” in Engl ish. Acording to Ar ist