【導(dǎo)讀】casethenovelistintendstopointouttheprofoundcauseofGatsby’stragedy.Dr.WatsoninthestoriesofSherlockHolmesservesasafoiltothehero,renderingthedetectivesmarterthanhewouldotherwiseappeartothereader.Bythedegreoftheirdevelopment,characterscanbegroupedasroundcharactersandflatcharacters.ThisdivisionisproposedbyE.MForster.Roundcharactersarefullydevelopedwhileflatcharactersarenot.Orwecansaythatroundcharacters

　　

【正文】 e. ” When one chooses to state a theme i n the phr ase form, he m ust be ver y careful about it s convert ibili ty t o sent ence f orm. For inst ance ,the phr ase “sel fl ess mat er nal love” does not al ways mean that “mat er nal love i s self les.” The t heme i s general izat ion about l if e based on the novel, and t he statement of them e should be t rue also of other people or li fe situati ons. Ther ef or e, names of char acters and places shoul d not be mentioned, for they suggest specif ic things and invite l imit at ions. So i n themati c di scussion of Wutheri ng Heights , one may ment ion “people’s psychology of r evenge, ” but not “Heat hcli f ’s.” Though a them e i s a generalization, overgeneral izat ion shoul d be avoided. Si nce a them e i s extr acted fr om a part icul ar novel ( a par ticular event) , i t may not be applicabl e t o al l sit uati ons. So words like “al ways, ” “never,” “al l, ” and “ever y” should be avoided. Inst ead, one should use words li ke “some,” “somet imes, ” and “may.” When making a gener al izati on, one should stri ct ly keep to what i s actual ly in t he novel and not smuggl e into i t asumpt ions supplied fr om his past experi ence. Si nce t heme is t he cent ral and unifying i dea of t he novel, i t must account f or all the major det ai ls and must not be cont radicted by an detail s i n the novel. Si nce a t heme is dif ferent f rom a moral or a leson, one should avoi d reducing a t heme to a cli ch233。 or pl at it ude li ke “Beauty is only ski n deep. ” I f one crams ever y new experi ence i nt o an old f ormula, he loses the opportunity of new percepti on pr ovided by r eadi ng novels. IV. Where t o Look for the Theme The noveli st may state or imply the theme. He uses ever y possibl e method to convey t he t heme. Though the theme i s based upon the whole novel, pract ical ly, we can specify some impor tant areas i n whi ch t o look f or t he theme. How the novel is ent itl ed. The ti tl e is the name of t he novel and in many cases ( al most al cases) the novel ist int ends i t o tel something impor tant about t he novel. Som et imes t he cent ral t heme of t he novel is pr esent in t he t itl e. For example, Pride and Prejudice is about Darcy’ s pr ide and Eli zabeth Ben’ s pr ejudice. Main Stret is about t he l ife of middleclas peopl e in a Mi dwest er n town. . Think what the ti tle of For Whom the Bel Toll s tels about i ts theme, and As Ilay Dyi ng. How the novelist shows his i nt erest . I f t he noveli st is i nt er ested in something, he woul d al low more space t o it, descr ibing or narati ng i n great detail . Yet, sometimes he emphasizes it by leaving it out , as in t he case of Er nest Hemingway. The point concerned here is t hat why t he noveli st gi ves more atention to t hi s part icul ar character, since or event but not others. How t he noveli st deals wi th a mon subj ect . Of ten the noveli st has t o incl ude in his work some mon subj ects, but i f he tr eats t he mon subjects in an unmon way, it shows that he is tr yi ng t o convey something new or i m por t ant in the novel . Maybe it is the theme t hat demands hi m t o do so. Important symbols. Symbol s ar e loaded wi th i mport ant meanings. So i f a sym bol appears repeatedl y or at impor tant moments, it may point t o the theme of the novel . A good example i s the leter “A” i n The Scarlet Leter. Important speches. Char acters talk and in their talk are revealed thei r judgment s of the other charact er s or event. The characters ’ j udgments may gi ve i mpor tant cl ues to t he t heme. V. Obvious and unobvious theme Obvious t heme: The theme of a st ory, since we know, is what ever general i dea or i nsight t he entir e st or y reveals. I n some st or ies, the theme i s rather obvi ous. For example, i n Aesop’ s f abl e about the council of t he mi ce t hat cannot deci de who wil l bel the cat, the theme i s st at ed i n the m or al at he end: “I t is easi er t o pr opose a thi ng t han to car ry i t out.” I n some novel s, the ti tle may off er a suggest ion about t he main t heme. For example, Jane Aust en’s Pri de and Prejudi ce i s named af ter i ts them e, and the whol e stor y unf ol ds i tsel f around t hat theme. In some novels, t he t itl e is not so named but t he plot exists pri mar ily t o il lust rate the them e and it is not ver y di f icul t f or us to inf er what it is. For exampl e, Uncl e Tom’s Cabi n by H. and The Grapes of Wrat h by John Steinbeck voice the themes of slaver y and migr ator y labor respecti vely. The ti tl e of The Grapes of Wrat h es f rom a l ine in an extr emely f amous Ci vi l War song, “The Batl e Hymn of the Republ ic.” The l ine is, “He is tr ampli ng out t he vintage where t he Gr apes of wrath are stored, ” whi ch means “an unj ust or oppr essi ve situation, action or poli cy t hat may i nf lame desi re f or vengeance: an explosi ve condit ion. ” The song was wr it en by a famous and influent ial social acti vi st , Jul ia Ward Howe. Unobvious theme: But i n most lit er ar y works of fi ct ion, the theme is seldom so obvious. That i s, gener al ly a theme is not amor al nor a mesage, neither i s it cl earl y conveyed i n the ti le. When we fini sh readi ng a f inel y wrought stor y, it is easier to sum up the pl ot —t o say what happens—than t o descri be t he main i dea. To say of James Joyce’s “Araby” that i t is about a boy who goes to a bazar to buy a gif t for a young woman but ar ives t oo l at e is to sum mar ize pl ot , not t heme. I n many fi ne shor t stori es, t heme is t he center, the movi ng f orce, the principle of unity. Clear ly, such a theme is something mor e than t he char acters and events of t he story. Most of t he short stori es chal enge an easy e theme. In Hemingway’s “A Clean, Wel l Li ght ed Place,” as obser ved by Kennedy and Gioia, the events are r at h