【正文】 er nal love i s self ess. ” The t heme is general izat ion about l if e based on the novel, and t he statement of theme should be t rue also of other people or li fe si tuations. Ther ef or e, names of characters and places shoul d not be mentioned, for they suggest specif ic things and invite l imit at ions. So i n themati c di scussi on of Wuthering Heights, one may ment ion “people’s psychology of revenge, ” but not “Heat hcli f ’s.” Though a theme i s a general izat ion, overgenerali zat ion shoul d be avoi ded. Si nce atheme i s extr acted fr om a part icul ar novel ( a part icul ar event) , i t may not be appl icable t o al l sit uati ons. So words like “always,” “never,” “al l,” and “ever y” should be avoided. I nstead, one should use words li ke “some,” “somet imes,” and “m ay. ” When making a gener al izat ion, one should str ict ly keep to what i s actual ly i n the novel and not smuggle into i t assumpt ions suppli ed f rom his past experi ence. Since t heme i s t he cent ral and unif yi ng i dea of the novel , i t must account f or all t he maj or det ails and must not be contradicted by an detail s in t he novel. Since a t heme is dif ferent from a moral or a lesson, one should avoid reduci ng a t heme t o a cl ich233。 and the ol der wai ter stops at a coff e bar on his way home—but whi le t he events themselves sem r el at ivel y sli ght , t he story as a whole is f ul l of meaning. For a deep under st andi ng of t he m eani ng, we have t o l ook t o ot her el em ent s of t he st or y besi des what happens i n i t : nar r at i ve, sym b ol s, t one, t he di al ogue bet ween t he t wo wai t er s, t he m onol ogue of t he ol der wai t er , et c. Evi dent l y t he aut hor i nt ends us t o pay m or e at t ent i on t o t he t hought s and f eel i ngs of t he ol der wai t er , t he char act er whose wor ds echo t he aut hor ’s voi ce. One t r y on t he t hem e m ay be: “The ol der wai t er under st ands t he ol d m an and sym pat hi zes wi t h hi s need f or a cl ean, wel l l i ght ed pl ace. ” But her e we ar e st i l l t al ki ng about what happens i n t he st or y, t hough we ar e not t r oubl 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 courting women and drinki ng. But during 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 wife 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 or ies 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 learn 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 ot le, pl ot is the “soul” or shaping pr inci ple or f iction, and charact er s exist pri mar il y as f uncti ons of t he plot. I n m ost of the st or ies, pl ot plays t he r ol e of pri nci pal str ucture of the st or y. But , as Nort hr op Fr ye poi nt s out, besides t he i nt er nal fi cti on of the charact er and his/her soci ety, ther e is an external fi ct ion consi sti ng of a r el ati on bet ween t he wri ter and the wri ter’s oci et y. We indeed have l it er ar y wor ks by t he li kes of Shakespeare and Homer i n whi ch art istr y is pletely absorbed i n thei r i nt er nal charact er s and we can har dl y percei ve t he exist ence of t he aut hor. However , as soon as t he aut hor ’s per sonali ty appear s on t he hori zon, a r el ati on wi th t he r eader is est ablished, and sometim es ther e seem s no story at al apart fr om what the aut hor is conveying to his/her r eader. I n t hi s case, the pr imary i nt er est i n di anoia, t he i dea or t hought that r eader gets f rom t he wri ter, whi ch i n m oder n cri ti cism we general y cal “t heme”. I. What Is Theme? One of the saf est m ents t o m ake about novel s is on the theme. Everyone is ent itl ed t o ext ract a them e based upon hi s under st andi ng of