【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 y borne t he black fl ower of ci vi li zed society, a pr ison. But , on one side of t he por tal , and r oot ed almost at t he thr eshold, was a wi ld r osebush, cover ed, i n thi s month of June, wi th its del icat e gems, whi ch mi ght be i magined to of fer t hei r fr agr ance and f ragil e beaut y to the pri soner as he went i n, and t o the condem ned cr im inal as he came f ort h to hi s doom , in t oken t hat t he deep heart of Natur e coul d pit y and be kind t o him. Apparentl y, t he aut hor makes a contr ast between the ugl y jail house wi th a tangled grass plot over grown wit h burdock and pigweed and somet hi ng as beauti ful as a wi ld r ose. As t he st ory unf olds, he wi l f urt her suggest that secret sin and a pr et ty chi ld m ay go together like a pi gweed and wi l d roses. I n thi s ar tf ull y craf ted novel , set ing i s int im at el y blended wi th characters, sym bol ism, and theme. In addit ion t o place, set ing may cr uci al y involve t he ti me of t he st or y—centur y, year, or even speci f i c hour . I t may mat ter greatl y that a story takes pl aces i n the m or ning or at noon. The medieval backgr ound inf or ms us dif f er ent ly fr om t he twenti eth century. Kennedy and Gi oia not e that in The Scarlet Let ter, the nieenthcentur y aut hor Nathani el Hawt hrone, util izes a l ong i ntr oducti on and a vivi d descri pti on of t he scene at a pri son door to infor m us t hat t he events i n t he st ory t ook place in t he Puri tan munit y of Bost on of the earl ier seventeenth century. This set ing, to whi ch Hawthor ne pays so much at ent ion, together wit h our schemata concer ning Puri tan pr ac t ice, helps us under stand what happens i n t he novel. We can understand t o som e ext ent t he agi tati on in the t own when a woman i s acused of adult ery, for adul ter y was a f lagrant def iance of church f or the God feari ng New Engl and Pur it an m uni ty, and an il legit imat e chi ld was evidence of si n. Wit hout i nf orm at ion about the seventeenthcentur y Puri tan backgr ound, a reader today may be per plexed at he novel . The f act t hat t he st ory i n Hawt hor ne’ s novel t ook pl ace i n a t im e remot e fr om our own l eads us to expect di f erent at ti tudes and customs of t he char acter s, i s st rongly suggest ive of the whol e soci et y, whi ch is cr uci al t o an esential under standi ng of The Scarlet Let er as a whol e. Besides place and ti me, set ing m ay al so include t he weat her, whi ch, indeed, may be cr uci al i n some stor ies. 2. Local color wri ti ng /regionali sm and t he writ er, a regi onal wri ter. When set ti ng dom inates, or when a pi ece of f icti on is wr i t en largely to pr esent t he manner s and custom s of a local it y, t he wr it ing i s of ten cal ed local color wr i ting or r egi onal ism and t he wr it er , a regional wri ter . A regional wri ter usual ly sets hi s/ her stor ies in one geographic ar ea and t ri es to br ing i t al ive t o r eaders ever ywhere. Thom as Har dy, i n his por tr ayal of li fe i n Wessex, wr ote r egi onal novel s. Ar nold Ben’ s novel s of the “Five Towns” ar e mar kedl y regional. Wil li am Faulkner, known as a disti ngui shed r egi onal wr it er, almost al ways set his novels and stori es in hi s nat ive Mississi ppi . 3. The set i ng of a novel i s not always drawn f rom a real l if e l ocale. The set ti ng of a novel is not always drawn fr om a r eal l if e l ocale. Lit erary ar ti sts someti mes pr efer t o cr eate t he total ity of their f icti on—the set ing as wel l as characters and t hei r act ions. …… The creati on of set ing can be a m agi cal f icti onal gif t in a noveli st or stor yt eler . But what ever the set ing of his/her wor k, a t rue noveli st i s concer ned wi th m aki ng an envir onment cr edi ble f or hi s/ her char act ers and their acti ons and i n accor d wi th t he development of the plot . I n some stor ies, a wri ter sems t o draw a set ing mainl y t o evoke at mosphere. I n such a st ory, set ti ng st art s us feeli ng what ever t he st orytel ler would have us feel. Thus atmospher e is a metaphor f or a feeli ng or an impr esion whi ch we cannot r eadil y at ach to some t angi bl e cause. We say that an ol d f ar mhouse set among lar ge mapl es, on a gr en l awn, has an atm osphere of peace. Here what we mean i s that the house, by r eason of the l ook of quiet ness and by reason of a number of pleasant associ ations we have wi t h t he kind of li fe li ved t her e, st ir s a cer tai n reacti on in us whi ch we do not at tach t o any si ngl e i nci dent or obj ect , but gener ally to t he whole scene. In the same way we may say t hat t he set ti ng of a st ory contr ibutes t o def i ni ng it s atmospher e. For i nst ance, i n “The Tel Tale H eart, ” Poe’ s set ti ng the acti on in an ol d, dar k, l ant er nl it house gr eat ly contr ibut es t o the r eader ’s sense of unease, and so helps t o bui ld 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 begi nning of which contr ibutes much t o the at mosphere of t he st ory. 4. The im port ance of atm 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 fi ct ion depends on t he set ting al one. ( As il lustr at ed in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, t he dialogue at he ver y beginning of t he pl ay hel ps power f ul ly to establi sh the atmospher e of uncer taint y, i n addi ti on to t he set ti ng—the cold midni ght cast le.) The vocabul ar y, t he fi gures of speech, and the r hythm of t he sent ence 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