【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 nt t o the t hem e of the novel . A good exam pl e is the let ter “A” in The Scarlet Let er . Im port ant speeches. Char act ers t al k and in their t al k are r evealed t heir judgments of t he ot her character s or event. The char act er s ’ j udgm ent s may give i mport ant clues t o the t hem e. V. Obvious and unobvious t heme Obvious t hem e: The t hem e of a st ory, si nce we know, i s whatever general idea or insight the enti re st or y r eveals. In some st or ies, the t heme is r at her obvious. For example, in Aesop’s f abl e about t he council of the m ice that cannot decide who wil l bel l the cat, the t hem e is stat ed in t he moral at the end: “I t is easi er t o pr opose a thi ng than t o car ry it out. ” In some novels, the t itl e may of fer a suggesti on about the m ai n theme. For exampl e, Jane Aust en’ s Pri de and Prej udi ce is named aft er it s theme, and t he whole stor y unfol ds i tself around t hat t heme. I n som e novels, the t it le i s not so named but the pl ot exists pr im ar il y t o il lustr at e the t heme and it i s not very di f icult f or us to i nfer what it is. For example, Uncle Tom’s Cabi n by H. B. St owe and The Grapes of Wrath by John Stei nbeck voice the t hem es of slavery and m igr at ory l abor r espectively. The ti tl e of The Grapes of Wrath es f rom a l ine in an ext remely famous Ci vi l War song, “The Batl e Hymn of t he Republ ic.” The l ine i s, “He i s tr ampli ng out t he vintage where the Gr apes of wr ath ar e st ored,” whi ch means “an unjust or oppr essive sit uat ion, act ion or poli cy that m ay inf lame desi re for vengeance: an expl osi ve condit ion.” The song was wr it ten by a f amous and infl uent ial soci al acti vi st, Jul ia Ward Howe. Unobvi ous theme: But i n most li terar y wor ks of f ict ion, the theme i s sel dom so obvious. That is, general ly a t hem e is not a mor al nor a message, nei ther is i t cl ear ly conveyed i n the t it le. When we fi ni sh reading a f inely wrought st ory, it i s easier to sum up the pl ot —to say what happens—than to descri be the mai n idea. To say of Jam es Joyce’ s “Araby” that it i s about a boy who goes to a bazaar t o buy a gif t for a young woman but ar ives too l at e i s to summar ize plot , not theme. In many fi ne shor t st ori es, theme i s the center, t he moving f or ce, t he pri nci pl e of unit y. Cl ear ly, such a t hem e is somethi ng m or e t han t he character s and events of t he st or y. Most of t he shor t st or ies chal lenge an easye t heme. I n Hemi ngway’s “A Cl ean, Wel Li ghted Place,” as obser ved by Kennedy and Gi oi a, t he events ar e rat her sim pl e—a young wait er manages to get r id of t he ol d man f r om t he caf 233。 and the older wait er st ops at a coff e bar on hi s way hom e—but whil e the event s themselves seem relat ively sli ght, the stor y as a whole i s f ul l of meani ng. For a deep understanding of t he meani ng, we have t o look t o other elements of the st or y besi des what happens in it : nar rati ve, symbols, tone, t he dialogue between the t wo wai ters, the m onol ogue of t he ol der wai ter, et c. Evidentl y the author i nt ends us t o pay more at tenti on to the thoughts and f el ings of t he older wait er , the char act er whos e 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 ne ed 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 wi th the hero Jordan, yet he i s a main character as his wi fe Pi lar i s. Minor char acter s are t hose i n remot e and st ati c relat ion wi th the hero. It i s wr ong t o t hi nk that mi nor characters ar e al unimpor tant. I n som e novels, one or some of t he minor char act ers m ay ser ve a cr it ical rol e, str uct ural y or int er pret at ional y. Foil charact ers are ones that hel p enhance the i ntensi ty of t he hero by strengt heni ng or cont rast ing. They may be m ain charact ers or m inor characters. I n a wor d, they ser ve as foil s to the hero or heroi ne. Cohn i n The Sun Also Ri ses i s a good exampl e. He is one of the mai n charact ers. Like Jake, he is al so “l(fā) ost ,” t rying vai nl y t o escape the past by court ing wom en and dr inking. But dur ing t heir stay i n Spai n, Cohn di spl ays quali ti es i n cont rast to t hose cheri shed by Jake, whi ch makes Jake reali ze hi s own pr obl em s and fi nal ly f ind a sol ut ion, though tempor ar il y. Cohn wor ks mainl y by cont rast. Wilson i n The Gr eat Gatsby works by present ing. Gat sby lost hi s lover to Tom and Wi lson lost hi s wi fe t o Tom. By presenting Wil son’s case t he noveli st i ntends t o point out the profound cause of Gat sby’s tragedy. Dr. Wat son i n the st ories of Sher l ock Hol mes ser ves as a f oil to the hero, r enderi ng the detecti ve smar ter t han he woul d otherwi se appear to t he reader . By t he degr e of t hei r development, characters can be grouped as round characters and fl at charact ers. This di vi sion i s pr oposed by E. M For ster. Round charact ers are full y devel oped whi le fl at charact ers ar e not . Or we can say that round charact ers gr ow whi le f lat characters do not. Usual ly the r eader is al owed aces t o t he inner l if e of the r ound char acter and permi t ed to lear n about many si des of t he r ound char act er . The fl at character is a “closed” character t o whose inner t houghts the reader is deni ed acess. Usual ly one si de of t he fl at character is shown i n the novel. Most heroes are round charact ers who gr ow emot ional ly or spir it ual ly. Chapter Three Theme Ar i st otl e in Poeti cs li st s si x basi c elements of t ragedy. Melody ( song) and dicti on (l anguage) f al in the gener