【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 f icul t f or us t o i nf er what it i s. For example, Uncl e Tom’s Cabin by H. B. St owe and The Grapes of Wrat h by John Steinbeck voice the them es of slaver y and m i gr at or y l abor respecti vel y. The ti tl e of The Grapes of Wrat h es fr om a li ne i n an ext rem el y fam ous Civil War song, “The Bat tle Hymn of t he Republi c. ” The li ne i s, “He i s tr ampli ng out t he vi ntage where t he Gr apes of wrath are stored, ” whi ch means “an unjust or oppr essi ve sit uati on, acti on or poli cy t hat m ay i nflame desir e f or vengeance: an expl osive condi ti on.” The song was wri t en by a fam ous and i nf luenti al social acti vi st, Jul ia Ward Howe. Unobvious t hem e: But i n m ost lit er ar y works of fi ct ion, t he t hem e is sel dom so obvious. That i s, general y a t heme is not a mor al nor a m esage, nei ther i s i t cl earl y conveyed in t he t itl e. When we f i nish readi ng a f inel y wrought st or y, it is easier t o sum up t he pl ot—to say what happens—t han to descr ibe the m ai n idea. To say of James Joyce’s “Araby” that it i s about a boy who goes t o a bazar t o buy a gif t f or a young wom an but ar ives t oo l at e i s to summari ze plot, not t hem e. I n m any fi ne short stori es, t hem e is t he center, t he m ovi ng f or ce, the pr inci pl e of uni ty. Cl earl y, such a them e i s som et hi ng m or e than t he char acters and events of t he stor y. Most of t he short stori es chal enge an easy e t hem e. I n Hemi ngway’s “A Clean, Wel l Li ght ed Place, ” as obser ved by Kennedy and Gi oi a, the event s ar e r at her sim pl e—a young wait er manages t o get r id of the ol d m an f rom t he caf 233。 and t he older wait er st ops at a cof fee bar on hi s way home—but whil e t he events t hem sel ves seem relati vely sl ight , the st or y as a whol e i s full of m eani ng. For a deep under st andi ng of t he meaning, we have t o l ook t o ot her el ement s of t he story besides what happe ns i n i t: nar rat i ve, sym bols, t one, t he dial ogue bet ween t he t wo wait er s, the monologue of the ol der wai ter, et c. Evi dentl y t he author i nt ends us to pay m or e at tent ion to t he t houghts and f eeli ngs of t he ol der wait er , t he char acter whose wor ds echo the aut hor’ s voice. One t r y on t he t hem e m ay be: “The older wait er underst ands the ol d m an and sym pat hi zes wi th his need f or a cl ean, wel li ght ed place.” But here we are st il t al ki ng about what happens i n the st or y, though we ar e not summi ng up the pl ot . A theme i s usual y st at ed i n gener al wor ds. Anot her t ry sounds l ike this: “Sol it ar y peopl e need a order l y place where t hey can dri nk wit h di gnit y. ” That i s a lit tl e bet er. We have i ndicat ed t hat Hemi ngway’ s tor y i s m or e than merel y about an old man and t wo wait er s. We r emem ber that at he end the st or y is enti r el y conf ined t o the ol der wai ter’ s t hought s and percepti ons. How do we under st and his medi at ion on “nada, ” not hi ngness, whi ch bear s so much emphasi s? No good statem ent of t he t hem e of t he story can l eave i t out. Then we have st il anot her t ry: “Solit ar y peopl e need a pl ace of r ef uge fr om thei r t er ri bl e awareness t hat thei r lif e (or per haps, human l if e) is esenti al ly m eani ngl ess. ” Neit her this nor any ot her statem ent of t he story’s t hem e is unarguably appr opri at e, but t he st at em ent at least ouches one prim ar y idea t hat Hemi ngway seems t o be dri vi ng at. Aft er we r ead “A Cl ean, Wel Lighted Pl ace, ” we feel t hat t here i s such a t hem e, a uni fying visi on, even though we cannot reduce i t o a tag and we m ay sti l var y in our opi ni on about, and statem ent of , the t heme. Moral i nf erences drawn f rom m ost st ories: Mor al inferences m ay be drawn fr om m ost stori es, no doubt, even when an author does not i nt end hi s/ her st or y to be read t hi s way. I n “A Clean, Wel l Li ghted Place”, we f el t hat Hemi ngway i s indi rect ly giving us advi ce f or proper ly r egar di ng and sym pat hi zi ng t he l onel y, t he uncert ai n, and t he old. But obvi ously t he story does not set fort h a leson t hat we ar e supposed to put i nt o pr acti ce. We can say f or sur e t hat “A Cl ean, Wel Li ghted Pl ace” cont ai ns several t hemes and ot her st at ements could be m ade t o t ake in Hemingway’s view of l ove, of muni cati on bet ween peopl e, of di gnit y. Great stori es, l ike gr eat symphonies, fr equentl y have mor e than one t heme. When we say that the ti tle of Pr ide and Prejudice conveys t he t heme of t he novel or that Uncl e Tom’ s Cabin and The Grapes of Wr at h tr eat he t hemes of sl avery and mi gr at ory labor r espect ivel y, this i s to use theme in a larger and mor e abst ra ct sense t han it is i n our di scussion of case t he novel ist i nt ends t o point out the profound cause of Gat sby’s tragedy. Dr. Watson in the st ories of Sher lock Holmes serves as afoil to t he hero, r ender ing the detective smar ter t han he would other wise appear to the reader. By the degree of their devel opment , charact ers can be grouped as round characters and flat characters. This division is proposed by Forster. Round characters are f ully developed while f lat charact ers are not . Or we can say t hat round charact ers gr ow whi le f lat charact ers do not. Usual ly t he r eader is alowed acces t o the inner lif e of t he r ound charact er and permit ted to learn about many sides of the round character. The flat character is a“closed” charact er to whose inner t houghts the reader is denied access. Usualy one si de of the flat char acter is shown in t he novel. Most heroes are round characters who grow emot ional y or spi rit ual y. Chapt er Three Theme Ari st ot le in Poetics lists six basic elements of tragedy. Melody (song) and d