【正文】 or plati tude like “Beauty i s onl y skin deep.” I f one cr ams ever y new exper ience int o an old f orm ula, he loses t he oppor tunit y of new percept ion pr ovi ded by reading novel s. I V. Where to Look f or the Theme The novel ist may state or i mply the t heme. He uses every possible method to convey the t hem e. Though the t hem e is based upon t he whole nove l, practi cal ly, we can specif y som e im por tant ar eas in whi ch to l ook for t he theme. How t he novel i s ent it led. The ti tl e is t he nam e of the novel and i n many cases (al most al cases) the novel ist int ends it t o t el l somet hi ng im por tant about the novel. Someti mes the centr al t heme of t he novel is pr esent in the ti tl e. For example, Pri de and Prej udi ce is about Dar cy’ s pri de and Eli zabeth Ben’s pr ejudice. Main Stret is about t he lif e of mi ddl eclass peopl e in a Mi dwester n town. . Thi nk what the ti tl e of For Whom the Bel l Tol ls t el ls about i ts t hem e, and As I l ay Dying. How the novelist shows his i nterest . If the noveli st i s inter ested i n something, he would al low more space to i t, descr ibing or nar ati ng in gr eat detail . Yet , somet imes he emphasi zes i t by le aving i t out , as i n the case of Er nest Hemi ngway. The point concerned here i s that why t he noveli st gives mor e at ent ion t o thi s par ti cul ar character , si nce or event but not other s. How the noveli st deals wi t h a m on subj ect . Oft en the novelist has to i ncl ude in hi s work some m on subj ects, but i f he tr eat s the m on subjects i n an un mon way, it shows t hat he i s tr ying t o convey something new or impor tant i n t he novel. Maybe i t is t he theme that demands hi m t o do so. Important symbols. Symbols are l oaded wi th impor tant meani ngs. So if a symbol appears r epeatedl y or at i mport ant mom ent s, i t m ay poi nt to t he theme of the novel. A good exam ple i s the l et ter “A” i n The Scarl et Let er. Important speeches. Char acters t alk and i n their t al k are reveal ed their j udgments of t he other character s or event. The char act ers ’ judgment s may gi ve i m por t ant 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 exam pl e, i n Aesop’s f abl e about the counci l of t he mi ce that cannot decide who wi l bel t he cat , the theme i s stated i n the m oral at t he end: “It i s easier t o propose a thing than to car ry 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 Prejudi ce i s named aft er i ts t hem e, and the whol e story unf olds i tsel f around that theme. In some novels, the t itl e i s not so named but t he plot exi sts pr imar ily to i l ust rat e the t heme and i t is not ver y di f icult f or us t o inf er what i t is. For example, Uncle Tom’ s Cabi n by H. owe and The Grapes of Wrath by John St ei nbeck voice t he themes of sl aver y and migr atory labor respecti vel y. The t it le of The Grapes of Wrat h es fr om a l ine i n an extr em el y f am ous Ci vil War song, “The Bat le Hymn of the Republic. ” The li ne is, “He is t rampl ing out the vint age wher e the Gr apes of wr ath ar e stored,” which means “an unj ust or oppr esive sit uat ion, act ion or poli cy that may i nf l am e desir e for vengeance: an explosive condi ti on. ” The song was wr i t en by a famous and inf luenti al soci al acti vist, J uli a Ward Howe. Unobvious them e: But in m ost l it er ary wor ks of fi ct ion, the t hem e is seldom so obvious. That is, gener al ly a theme i s not a m oral nor a m esage, neither is it clearl y conveyed in t he ti tl e. When we fi nish r eading a fi nel y wr ought story, i t i s easi er t o sum up t he pl ot—to say what happens—t han t o descr ibe the m ai n i dea. To say of James Joyce’s “Araby” t hat i t is about a boy who goes to a bazaar to buy a gi ft f or a young wom an but ar ives too late i s to summ ar ize pl ot , not t hem e. I n many f ine shor t stori es, t heme is t he center , t he moving f orce, the pri nci ple of unit y. Cl ear ly, such a theme i s somet hi ng mor e than t he character s and events of the st or y. Most of t he shor t stor 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 Gioi 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 his 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 under st andi ng of t he m eani ng, we have t o l ook t o ot her el em ent s of t he st or y besi des what happens i n i t : nar r at i ve, sym b ol s, t one, t he di al ogue bet ween t he t wo wai t er s, t he m onol ogue of t he ol der wai t er , et c. Evi dent l y t he aut hor i nt ends us t o pay m or e at t ent i on t o t he t hought s and f eel i ngs of t he ol der wai t er , t he char act er whose 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 need 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