【正文】 need a orderl y place where t hey can dr ink wi t h dignit y. ” That i s a l it le bet ter. We have i ndi cat ed that Hemingway’s stor y i s more t han merel y about an old m an and two wai ter s. We remember that at t he end the stor y is enti rel y conf ined t o the ol der wai ter’ s thought s and per cept ions. How do we understand his medi ati on on “nada,” nothi ngnes, which bears so m uch emphasi s? No good statement of the theme of t he st ory can l eave i t out . Then we have sti l anot her tr y: “Soli tary people need a pl ace of r ef uge fr om t hei r ter ri bl e awarenes t hat t hei r li fe ( or per haps, hum an li fe) is essenti al y meani ngles.” Neither thi s nor any ot her statement of the stor y’s theme is unar guabl y appr opri at e, but the stat em ent at least t ouches one pr im ar y i dea t hat Hem ingway sems t o be dri ving at . Af ter we read “A Cl ean, Wel Li ghted Place,” we feel that her e i s such a t hem e, a uni fying vi si on, even though we cannot r educe it t o a t ag and we may sti l vary i n our opi nion about, and st atement of , the t heme. Moral i nferences drawn f rom most st ories: Mor al infer ences may be drawn fr om m ost stori es, no doubt, even when an author does not i nt end his/her st ory t o be r ead t his way. In “A Clean, Wel Li ght ed Place”, we f eel t hat Hemi ngway is i ndi rectl y givi ng us advice f or proper ly regarding and sympathizi ng the l onel y, t he uncert ai n, and t he old. But obvi ously the stor y does not set f or t h a lesson that we are supposed to put i nt o practi ce. We can say f or sur e that “A Clean, Wel Li ght ed Place” contai ns several themes and ot her st at ement s coul d be made t o take in Hemingway’s vi ew of love, of muni cat ion between peopl e, of digni ty. Great st ori es, li ke great symphonies, f requent ly have mor e than one t heme. When we say t hat t he ti tle of Pr ide and Pr ej udice conveys the t heme of t he novel or that Uncle Tom’ s Cabi n and The Gr apes of Wr ath t reat the t hemes of slavery and mi grator y l abor r espect ively, thi s is t o use t heme in a lar ger and mor e abstr act sense t han it is in our discussion of Hemi ngway’ s “A Cl ean, Wel Li ght ed Place.” I n thi s larger sense it i s rel at ively easy to say t hat Mar k Twai n’s Huckl eber ry Finn, Updi ke’ s A amp。sum m i ng up the plot . A theme is usual ly stat ed in gener al words. Anot her t ry sounds li ke this: “Sol it ar y peopl e need a orderl y place where t hey can dr ink wi t h dignit y. ” That i s a l it le bet ter. We have i ndi cat ed that Hemingway’s stor y i s more t han merel y about an old m an and two wai ter s. We remember that at t he end the stor y is enti rel y conf ined t o the ol der wai ter’ s thought s and per cept ions. How do we understand his medi ati on on “nada,” nothi ngnes, which bears so m uch emphasi s? No good statement of the theme of t he st ory can l eave i t out . Then we have sti l anot her tr y: “Soli tary people need a pl ace of r ef uge fr om t hei r ter ri bl e awarenes t hat t hei r li fe ( or per haps, hum an li fe) is essenti al y meani ngles.” Neither thi s nor any ot her statement of the stor y’s theme is unar guabl y appr opri at e, but the stat em ent at least t ouches one pr im ar y i dea t hat Hem ingway sems t o be dri ving at . Af ter we read “A Cl ean, Wel Li ghted Place,” we feel that her e i s such a t hem e, a uni fying vi si on, even though we cannot r educe it t o a t ag and we may sti l vary i n our opi nion about, and st atement of , the t heme. Moral i nferences drawn f rom most st ories: Mor al infer ences may be drawn fr om m ost stori es, no doubt, even when an author does not i nt end his /her st ory t o be r ead t his way. In “A Clean, Wel Li ght ed Place”, we f eel t hat Hemi ngway is i ndi rectl y givi ng us advice f or proper ly regarding and sympathizi ng the l onel y, t he uncert ai n, and t he old. But obvi ously the stor y does not set f or t h a lesson tha t we are supposed to put i nt o practi ce. We can say f or sur e that “A Clean, Wel Li ght ed Place” contai ns several themes and ot her st at ement s coul d be made t o take in Hemingway’s vi ew of love, of muni cat ion between peopl e, of digni ty. Great st ori es, li ke great symphonies, f requent ly have mor e than one t heme. When we say t hat t he ti tle of Pr ide and Pr ej udice conveys the t heme of t he novel or that Uncle Tom’ s Cabi n and The Gr apes of Wr ath t reat the t hemes of slavery and mi grator y l abor r espect ively, thi s is t o use t heme in a lar ge r and mor e abstr act sense t han it is in our discussion of Hemi ngway’ s “A Cl ean, Wel Li ght ed Place.” I n thi s larger sense it i s rel at ively easy to say t hat Mar k Twai n’s Huckl eber ry Finn, Updi ke’ s A amp。 P, and Faul kner ’s Bar n Burni ng concern t he theme of “ini ti at ion i nto m at uri ty.” Such gener al descr ipt ions of theme can be usef ul, especial y if we want t o sort a l ar ge number of stor ies and novels into rough cat egor ies, but the f act t hat t hey ar e simi lar i n theme does not m ean t hat t hey m ean the sam e thi ng. The at it ude t owards t he theme may be very dif ferent: t he tone of tr eat ment may be, f or exampl e, eit her i c or tr agi c, str aightf orwar d or ir oni c. The wr i ter’ s vision of l if e is t he special under lying fact of a st or y, and a t hem e, abstr act ly stat ed, is not t he same t hing as a visi on of l if e. And we suggest anyway t hat , i n t he beginni ng, you look f or what ever t rut h or insight you t hink t he wr iter of a stor y int ends t o reveal . Try t o state a theme i n a sent ence. By doing so, we wi l fi nd ourselves looking closely at the st or y. Kennedy and Gioi a make a helpful suggesti on to consider the f ol lowi ng points when we thi nk about the t he