【正文】 ovel. Theme may be the most democr atic elements i n lit er at ur e, because its definit ion is the least rest ricti ve. The t heme of a novel i s its cont rolli ng i dea or i ts centr al insight . Being an i dea or an insight , t he t heme shoul d be abstr act and it should generalize about l ife. Label ed as controll ing or cent ral, the theme should be capable of unif yi ng t he whole novel . So the theme of a st or y, t hen, i s whatever gener al idea or insi ght the enti re story r eveals. I I. Clarif icat ion about Theme Common as it is, theme suf fers some mi sunderstandings. One misconcept ion about theme i s t hat each novel has a theme or themes, or theme i s impor tant t o al novels. I n fact , some novel s, interest ing ones t hough, do not pr ovide any i nsight i nt o lif e. For example, many novel s of rati ocination and novels of horr or . These novels are ai med at entert ai ni ng t he r eader , not at improving hi s under standi ng of li fe. They may someti mes touch upon t he human nature or soci al probl ems, but these isues are onl y used to push the pl ot f or war d and they ar e not menti oned for t heir own val ue. Theme xists onl y in the novel t hat seriousl y at t em pts to r ef lect li fe f ait hfully or intends to r eveal tr ut h about li fe, or in t he novels t hat ar e based on i deas or theor ies of li fe. ( for exampl e, novels of i deas). Anot her misconcept ion about t heme is that he t heme is l ar gely what the novel i s. Some people discard the novel when they t hi nk t hat they have got the theme. It should be made cl ear that the novel i s not writ ten to convey an idea but t o convey an idea art ist ical ly. The novel i s a work of ar t whereas t he t heme is onl y an abstr act idea. An analogy f rom dai ly l ife may hel p clar ify t hi s questi on. Peopl e al l need vit ami ns and get hem f rom various ki nds of vegetabl es and fruit s. Only those wit h def iciency of one kind or another have to t ake vi tamin pil ls to get the requi red amount . The dif er ence between t he t heme and t he novel i s much li ke t hat between t he vit ami ns and the vegetables. The r eader sometim es fi nds that he t heme of a novel is si milar to or even t he same as what he has al ready known about li fe and t hat he i s st il fascinated by t he novel. Theme appeals solel y to t he i nt el lectual evel of reading whil e t he novel as a whol e mai nl y appeals to t he emotional level . Another pitf al l concer ni ng t he t heme is to conf use atheme wi th moral or leson. Usualy, a mor al or a leson i s t he advi ce stated or im pl ied in a par able or fabl e. It is something of a r ule by whi ch one can regulate his behavi or . For exampl e, “Be kind to your nei ghbor s, ” or “Honesty i s the best pol icy. ” But a theme i s mor e plicated than t hi s as a novel i s t o enhance one’ s awareness of li fe r ather than simply to t el l hi m how to behave. A novel is a pli cated mater and dif er ent readers may have di fer ent i nter pretations of the same novel, so i t i s i ncorr ect to presume that one novel has only one theme. In some cases, ther e ar e sever al subthemes to t he main theme. In r eali ty, some novel s ar e appr eciated for thei r themati c ambiguity. For exampl e, Moby Di ck can be i nt er pr et ed i n mor e ways than one. Final ly, t he t heme is not t o be conf used wi th the subject . The theme i s an i dea whi le t he subject i s a mat er or an af ai r. “Love i s invi ncible” may be a theme, but “l(fā)ove” is onl y a subject. A subj ect may be universal . The subjects of The Scarlet Let er, The Great Gatsby, and Women in Love are al “l(fā) ove.” But these novels have di f er ent themes. A t heme is par t i cular t o it s novel, though there are many simi lar t hemes t o be f ound in other novels. I I . Fi ve Requir ements for Stating a Theme The statement of a theme may be brief or l ong. And there are dif er ent ways to expr ess one and the same t heme. But i t should meet he f ol lowing requir em ents. A them e m ust be expressed i n the form of a statement wi th a subject and a predicat e. For example, “Love of one’ s count ry oft en inspi res heroic sel f sacr if ice.” I f a theme i s expr essed in t he f or m of a phrase, then t he phrase must be convert ible to sent ence f or m. One can say t hat the theme of a novel is “futi lit y of envy.” The phrase can be changed to “envy is futi le.” When one chooses t o st at e a t heme in t he phrase f or m, he must be very car ef ul about its conver ti bi lit y to sentence for m. For i nstance ,t he phrase “self les maternal love” does not always mean t hat “maternal ove is sel fless.” The theme is generali zati on about li fe based on t he novel , and the st at ement of t heme should be true al so of ot her people or l if e sit uat ions. Therefore, names of charact er s and places should not be ment ioned, f or t hey suggest specif c things and invi te l i mi t ati ons. So in t hematic discussi on of Wuthering Height s, 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. Inst ead, one should use words li ke “some,” “somet imes, ” and “may.” When making a gener al izat ion, one should stri ct ly keep to what i s actual ly in t he novel and not smuggl e into i t asumpt ions supplied fr om his past experi ence. Since t heme is t he cent ral and unifying i dea of t he novel , i t must account f or all the major det ai ls and mus t not be cont radicted by an detail s in the novel. Since a t heme is dif ferent from a moral or a leson, one should avoid reduci ng a t heme t o a cl ich2