【導(dǎo)讀】casethenovelistintendstopointouttheprofoundcauseofGatsby’stragedy.Dr.WatsoninthestoriesofSherlockHolmesservesasafoiltothehero,renderingthedetectivesmarterthanhewouldotherwiseappeartothereader.Bythedegreeoftheirdevelopment,characterscanbegroupedasroundcharactersandflatcharacters.ThisdivisionisproposedbyForster.Roundcharactersarefullydevelopedwhileflatcharactersarenot.Orwecansaythatroundcharactersgr

　　

【正文】 l “l(fā)ove.” But these novels have dif fer ent t hem es. A t hem e is part icular to it s novel, t hough t her e are m any si mil ar themes to be f ound in ot her novels. I I. Five Requir ements f or St ating a Them e The st atement of a t hem e may be br ief or long. And there ar e dif ferent ways to express one and t he same theme. But it should meet t he fol lowi ng requir ement s. A theme must be expressed in the f orm of a st at ement wit h a subj ect and a predicate. For example, “Love of one’s countr y oft en inspi res heroi c sel f sacri f ice. ” I f a t heme i s expr essed in t he for m of a phr ase, then the phr ase must be convert ibl e to sentence for m. One can say t hat t he theme of a novel i s “f uti li ty of envy. ” The phr ase can be changed t o “envy i s fut il e. ” When one chooses to st at e a t hem e in t he phrase for m, he must be very car ef ul about it s convert ibi li ty t o sent ence f orm. For instance ,t he phr ase “self les m aternal love” does not always mean that “m aternal love is self less. ” The t hem e is general izati on about lif e based on the novel, and t he st atem ent of t hem e shoul d be t rue al so of ot her people or lif e sit uati ons. Ther efor e, names of char act er s and places shoul d not be mentioned, for they suggest specif ic t hi ngs and invit e li mit ati ons. So in themati c discussion of Wut hering Heights, one may menti on “people’s psychol ogy of r evenge,” but not “Heathcli f’s.” Though a theme is a general izati on, over generali zat ion should be avoi ded. Since a t hem e is extr act ed fr om a par ti cul ar novel (a part icular event ), i t m ay not be appli cable t o al sit uat ions. So words l ike “al ways, ” “never, ” “al l, ” and “every” shoul d be avoided. I nst ead, one should use wor ds li ke “some,” “someti mes, ” and “m ay. ” When making a general ization, one should st ri ctly keep t o what is actual y in the novel and not smuggle into it asumpti ons suppli ed fr om hi s past experi ence. Since t hem e is t he cent ral and uni fyi ng idea of t he novel, i t must account for all t he maj or det ail s and must not be cont radi ct ed by an detai ls i n t he novel . Si nce a theme is di f erent from a moral or a lesson, one shoul d avoi d reduci ng a t hem e to a cli ch233。 or pl ati tude l ike “Beaut y is onl y ski ndeep. ” If one cr am s ever y new exper ience into an ol d f ormul a, he l oses the opport uni ty of new per cept ion provi ded by readi ng novel s. I V. Where t o Look f or t he Them e The noveli st m ay st ate or im ply t he theme. He uses every possi ble m et hod to convey the t heme. Though the t heme is based upon the whol e novel , pr act ical y, we can speci fy some i mport ant ar eas i n which t o l ook for the t heme. How t he novel is ent it led. The ti le is t he name of t he novel and i n many cases ( al most al l cases) the noveli st i nt ends i t to t el som et hing i mport ant about t he novel. Somet imes t he centr al theme of the novel i s present i n the t it le. For example, Pride and Prej udice is about Darcy’s pr ide and Eli zabeth Ben’ s prejudi ce. Mai n Street i s about the l if e of mi ddl e class people in a Midwester n town. . Thi nk what he ti tl e of For Whom the Bel Toll s tel ls about i ts t hem e, and As I l ay Dying. How t he novel ist shows his i nt erest. I f the novel ist is i nterested i n something, he would al low more space t o i t, descri bing or nar ating in gr eat detail . Yet , someti mes he emphasi zes i t by leavi ng it out, as in the case of Er nest Hemi ngway. The poi nt concer ned her e i s that why the novelist gives mor e atent ion t o thi s par ti cul ar character, since or event but not others. How the noveli st deals wi th a mon subj ect . Of t en the novel ist has t o i ncl ude i n his work some mon subjects, but i f he tr eat s the mon subjects i n an unm on way, i t shows t hat he i s tr ying t o convey something new or i m por t ant in the novel . Maybe it is the theme t hat demands him to do so. Im port ant sym bol s. Symbols ar e loaded wit h i mport ant meanings. So i f a symbol appear s repeat edl y or at impor tant moments, i t may point to the t heme of t he novel . A good example is t he let er “A” in The Scarl et Let ter . Im port ant speeches. Character s talk and in t hei r talk ar e r evealed t hei r judgment s of the ot her char act ers or event . The character s’ judgments m ay give im por tant clues to t he theme. V. Obvi ous and unobvious theme O bvi ous theme: The theme of a st or y, si nce we know, i s what ever gener al i dea or i nsi ght t he ent ir e stor y reveal s. I n some stor ies, t he theme i s rat her obvious. For exampl e, i n Aesop’ s f abl e about the counci l of t he mi ce t hat cannot decide who wi l bel t he cat , t he theme i s stated i n the m oral at t he end: “It i s easier t o propose a thing t han to car y i t out .” I n some novel s, t he ti tl e may off er a suggest ion about t he main theme. For example, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice i s nam ed af t er i ts t hem e, and the whol e story unf ol 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 Cabin by . Stowe and The Grapes of Wrat h by John Steinbeck voi ce the t hemes of slaver y and mi grator y l abor respect ively. The ti tle of The Grapes of Wrat h es fr om a li ne in an extr emely f amous Civi l War song, “The Bat tl e Hymn of t he Republi c.” The l ine is, “He is tr am pl ing out the vi ntage where t he Grapes of wrat h are stor ed, ” which m eans “an unjust or oppressi ve si tuati on, acti on or pol icy t hat may i nfl am e desi re f or vengeance: an explosive conditi on.” The song was wri t en by a f am ous and