【正文】 ns t hey wil i nevi tabl y suf er f rom disasters, and the fart her they are away f rom t heir hom et owns, the m ore, t er ri bl e t heir disasters wil l be. For exam pl e, in t he Tes of t he D’ Urbervil es, t he Vale of Bl akem or e was t he place where Tess was bor n and her li fe was to unf ol d. Ever y contour of the surr oundi ng hil ls was as per sonal to her as t hat of her el at ives’ faces。 (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。 ( 2) the occupati ons and dail y m anner of li vi ng of t he char acters。 hi s cont em porary Evel yn Waugh stated that t he West Afr ica of t hat book repl aced t he t rue rem em bered West Afr ica of his own experi ence. Such power i s not unm on: t he Yor kshi re moor s have been r om anti ci zed because Emil y Bront e wrote of them in Wuthering Hei ght s, and li terary t ouri st s have visit ed Stoke on Tr ent i n nor ther n England because it pr ises t he “Fi ve Towns” of Ar nold Ben ’s novels of t he ear ly t wenti et h cent ur y. Thus, a r eader ’s r eact ion to a place i s not m er el y based upon the way i t l ooks, but upon t he pot enti ali ti es of acti on suggested by i t. Places m att er great ly t o m any writ ers. For i nstance, t he French noveli st Bal zac, bef or e writ ing a st or y set in a t own, he woul d go and vi sit t hat own, select a f ew l anes and houses, and descri bes them in det ail , down to t heir ver y smel s. In his view t he place i n whi ch a n event occur s was of equal m oment wit h the event it self , and it has a part t o pl ay. Another example is Thom as Har dy, under whom the pr esent at ion of set ti ng asumes an unusual import ance. Hi s “Wessex” vil lages cast i nt angi bl y such as spel upon t he vil agers t hat once t hey leave thei r hometowns t hey wil i nevi tabl y suf er f rom disasters, and the fart her they are away f rom t heir hom et owns, the m ore, t er ri bl e t heir disasters wil l be. For exam pl e, in t he Tes of t he D’ Urbervil es, t he Vale of Bl akem or e was t he place where Tess was bor n and her li fe was to unf ol d. Ever y contour of the surr oundi ng hil ls was as per sonal to her as t hat of her el at ives’ faces。 she l oved t he pl ace and was l oved i n t he pl ace. The val e, far f r om t he m addi ng cr owd of t he ci vil ized cit y, was as ser ene and pur e as t he i nhabit ants. Tes, im bued deepl y wit h t he natural hue of t he val e and bound cl osel y to t hi s worl d of simpli ci ty and secl usi on, exper ienced her own deli ght and happi nes t hough her f ami ly was poor . It was, t o some ext ent, her depar t ur e f rom her nati ve place t hat l ed t o her t ragedy. I n The Ret urn of the Nat ive, t he atmospher e of Egdon Heat h pr evai ls over the whol e book。 ( 2) the occupati ons and dail y m anner of li vi ng of t he char acters。 P, and Faul kner’ s Barn Burning concer n t he t heme of “i nit iati on i nt o m at ur it y. ” Such general descri pt ions of them e can be usef ul, especi al y if we want to sor t a l ar ge num ber of stori es and novels i nt o rough cat egori es, but t he f act hat they ar e simi lar i n them e does not mean t hat they m ean the sam e thing. The at it ude t owards t he t heme may be very dif er ent: t he t one of t reatm ent m ay be, f or example, eit her i c or tr agic, str ai ghtf or ward or i r onic. The writ er ’s vision of li f e i s t he special underl ying fact of a story, and a them e, abst ract ly stated, is not t he sam e t hi ng as a vi si on of li fe. And we suggest anyway that , i n the beginni ng, you l ook for whatever tr ut h or i nsight you t hi nk t he wr it er of a st or y i nt ends to r eveal. Try t o st at e a t hem e in a sentence. By doing so, we wi l fi nd oursel ves looki ng closely at he st or y. Kennedy and Gi oi a m ake a helpf ul suggest ion t o consi der the foll owi ng poi nt s when we think about t he t hem e of a story: Look back once m or e at the ti le of t he st or y. What does it indi cat e i n relati on t o t he whole story? Does the m ai n charact er i n any way change i n the st or y? Does t hi s char act er ar ri ve at any event ual real izati on or underst anding? Ar e you l eft wi th any r eali zati on or under st andi ng aft er f inishi ng r eading the st or y? Does t he author (t hrough t he nar rator) make any gener al obser vati ons about li fe or human nature? Do the charact er s m ake any ( Cauti on: Charact er s now and agai n wi l utter opi ni ons wit h which t he reader i s not necessari ly supposed t o agr e.) Does the st or y contain any especi al ly cur ious obj ect s, m ysteri ous fl at charact er s, si gni fi cant anim al s, repeated names, speci al al lusi ons, or whatever, t hat hi nt towar ds m eani ngs larger t han such things or di naril y have? I n lit erary st ori es, such symbol s or metaphors may poi nt to centr al t hem es. When we have wor ked our statem ent of t hem e, have we cast our statem ent into general anguage, not just given a pl ot summ ar y? Does our statem ent hol d t rue f or the st or y as a whol e, not j ust part of i t? Chapt er Four Seti ng “Once upon a t i me t here l ived a king named M i das i n Phrygi a. He loved gol d more than anyt hi ng el se but his li tl e daught er. ” This i s t he openi ng sentences of “Gol den Touch”, whi ch i nt roduces t he tim e, place, and the usual ment al it y of t he charact er . What is set i ng? An event occur s and a charact er exi st s i n a par ticular t ime and pl ace. Thi s part icul ar tim e and place i s r efer ed t o as set ing. A seti ng i s the backgr ound agai nst whi ch a char acter i s depi ct ed or an event nar rated. It s pur pose i s t o pr ovi de an imagi nar y li nk bet wen what happens i n t he novel and what he r eader t akes t o be r eali ty. Li ke some other elem