【正文】 ame way we may say that he set ti ng of a st ory contr ibut es t o defi ni ng it s atmospher e. For i nst ance, in “The Tel Tale Heart, ” Poe’ s set ti ng the acti on in an ol d, dar k, l ant ernl it house gr eat ly contr ibut es t o t he reader ’s sense of unease, and so helps t o build the stor y’s ef ect iveness. Anot her example i s Lawrence’ s “The Horse Deal er’ s Daught er, ” the descr ipti on at the beginning of which contr ibutes much t o t he at mospher e of t he story. 4. The import ance of at m osphere in creati ng the set ing But i t is a m istake to say t hat t he at mospher e of a piece of f ict ion depends on t he set ing al one. (As il lustr at ed in Shakespeare’s Ham let, t he di alogue at t he ver y beginning of t he pl ay hel ps power ful ly t o establi sh t he atmospher e of uncert ainty, in addi tion to t he set ti ng—the cold midnight cast le.) The vocabular y, t he fi gur es of speech, and the r hyt hm of t he sentence also help defi ne the gener al at m ospher e, f or by t hese f act or s t he wr i t er m anages t o cont r ol t he ki nd of associ at i ons t hat e t o t he r eader ’ s m i nd. At m osphere al so depends on char act er and act i on. I n shor t , we m ay say t hat t he at m ospher e of f i ct i on i s t he per vasi ve, gener al f eel i ng, gener at ed by a num ber of f act or s ( set t i ng, char act er , act i on, and st yl e) t hat i s opi ni on about, and statement of , the t hem e. 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 ort h a lesson that we are s upposed 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 slaver y and m i gr at or y labor respect ively, this i s to use t hem e in a larger and more abstr act sense t han i t is i n our discussion of Hemi ngway’s “A Clean, Wel Li ght ed Place. ” In this larger sense it i s relat ively easy to say t hat Mar k Twain’ s Huckl eber ry Fi nn, Updi ke’ s A amp。 P, and Faulkner’ s Barn Bur ning concer n t he theme of “init iati on int o matur it y.” Such gener al descr ipti ons of t hem e can be useful , especi al ly if we want t o sor t a lar ge num ber of stori es and novels i nto r ough categori es, but the f act that they ar e si mi lar in t hem e does not mean that they mean t he same t hing. The at ti tude t owar ds the t hem e may be very di f erent: the t one of tr eatm ent m ay be, for example, either ic or t ragic, str ai ght for ward or i roni c. The wr it er ’ s vi sion of li fe is t he special underl ying f act of a stor y, and a t heme, abst rac tl y stated, is not the same thi ng as a vision of l if e. And we suggest anyway that, i n the beginning, you look f or what ever tr uth or i nsi ght you t hi nk the wr i t er of a stor y i nt ends t o r eveal. Try to st at e a theme in a sentence. By doing so, we wi l f ind our selves looking cl osely at t he st ory. Kennedy and Gi oia make a helpf ul suggesti on to consider the f oll owi ng point s when we thi nk about the t hem e of a st ory: Look back once mor e at the ti tl e of the stor y. What does it i ndi cat e in relat ion t o the whol e st ory? Does the m ain character in any way change in t he st ory? Does t hi s char act er ar ri ve at any event ual r eal izati on or understanding? Ar e you lef t wi t h any reali zat ion or under st andi ng aft er f ini shing readi ng the st or y? Does the author (t hrough t he nar rator ) make any general obser vat ions about li fe or human natur e? Do the character s make any ( Cauti on: Character s now and agai n wi l ut er opini ons wi t h which t he reader i s not necesari ly supposed to agr e. ) Does t he story contai n any especi al y cur ious objects, myst eri ous f lat char act ers, si gni fi cant animal s, r epeated names, speci al al lusi ons, or what ever , that hint towar ds m eani ngs l ar ger than such t hings ordinar il y have? I n li ter ar y stor ies, such sym bol s or metaphor s may point to cent ral themes. When we have worked our st at ement of t hem e, have we cast our st at ement i nto general language, not j ust given a pl ot summar y? Does our statement hol d t rue f or t he story as a whol e, not j ust par t of it ? Chapter Four Set ing “Once upon a time there li ved a ki ng named Midas i n Phrygia. He l oved gol d more than anyt hing else but his l it tl e daughter.” This i s the opening sent ences of “Golden Touch”, which i nt roduces t he ti me, place, and the usual m ent al it y of the char acter. What i s set ti ng? An event occur s and a char act er exi st s in a par ti cul ar t ime and pl ace. This part icular t ime and pl ace i s ref er red t o as set ti ng. A set ti ng is t he background agai nst whi ch a char act er i s depi cted or an event nar r at ed. I ts purpose is t o pr ovi de an imaginar y li nk bet ween what happens i n the novel and what t he r eader takes to be r eal it y. Li ke some ot her el em ent s, set ing i s not pecul iar to the novel . The reader f inds it serving the sam e purpose in di f er ent genres. The tr adi ti onal way to tel a st or y r eveals m uch about set ing.