【正文】 ( 4) t he gener al envir onm ent of the characters, for example, reli gious, m ent al , moral , social, and emoti onal condi ti ons t hrough whi ch character s in t he story move. ( Holman and Har man, A Handbook t o li terature, 1986) But of ten, i n an ef ect ive stor y, set ing m ay fi gur e as more than mere background. I t can make t hings happen. It can prompt char act ers t o act , bri ng them t o r eal izations, or cause t hem t o r eveal t hei r innermost natures, as we shal see i n John Cheever ’s short stor y “The Swim mer”. Fir st , as we have said, the i dea of set ti ng includes t he physical envi ronm ent of a st ory: a r egi on, a l andscape, a cit y, a vi lage, a st reet, a house—a part icular place or a ser ies of places wher e a stor y occurs. ( Where a st or y t akes place is somet imes cal ed its l ocal e.) Places in fi ct ion not onl y pr ovi de a locati on for an act ion or an event of t he st ory but also provoke feeli ngs in us. A sight of a gr een fi el d dott ed wit h f lutt eri ng daf fodi ls af ect s us ver y dif f er ent ly fr om a si ght of a dingy al ey, a t ropical jungle, or a sm al l house crowded wi th fur ni tur e. I n additi on to a sense of beauty or ugli nes, we usual ly buil d up cert ai n as sociati ons when we put our sel ves i n such a scene. We ar e depresed by a di ngy al ley, not only because i t i s ugly, but because it may ar ouse a f eel ing, per haps somet imes unconsciousl y, of pover ty, mi ser y, viol ence, viciousness, and the st ruggles of human be i ngs who have t o li ve under such condit ions. A tr opi cal j ungl e, f or exam pl e, i n Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darknes, might involve a pl icated anal ysi s: t he pleasur e of the colours and f orms of veget ati on, t he di sf ort of humidi ty, heat, and i nsects, a sense of myst er y, hor ror , et c. The populari ty of Si r Walt er Scott ’s “Waverl ey” novels i s due in par t to t hei r evocati on of a romanti c mood of Scot land. The Engl ish novel ist Gr aham Greene apparentl y needed t o visit a f r esh scene i n order to wri te a fr esh novel. Hi s abi li ty t o encapsul ate t he essence of an exot ic set ing i n a single book i s exem pl if ied i n The Heart of the M att er。 as an envi ronment, i t absorbs some and repels ot her s of the char act ers: those who are abs or bed achi eve a somber int egr at ion wi t h it , but t hose who ar e repel ed and r ebel suff er di saster. Someti mes an environment serves as m ore t han a m ere pl ace t o set the story. Oft en, i t is i next ri cably ent angled wi t h the pr ot agoni st , and even car r ies st r ong symboli c meanings. Cathy as an i mage of t he f em i ni ne personalit y, f or exampl e, i n Emi ly Bronte’s Wutheri ng Heights , is not supposed to possess the “wi lderness” character isti c of masculi nit y and symbol ized by the l ocal es of Heathcli f and Wut heri ng Height s. I n som e fi ction, set ti ng is cl osely bound wi th t hem e. I n The Scarl et Let ter , even smal detail s af f or d powerf ul hi nts at the t hem e of the stor y. At t he st ar t of the stor y, t he nar rat or descr ibes a colonial jai lhouse: Bef ore this ugl y edi fi ce, and between it and t he wheel tr ack of t he st reet, was a grass plot , much over gr own wi th bur dock, pigweed, apple per u, and such unsight ly veget ati on, whi ch evi dentl y f ound somethi ng congenial in t he soi l that had so earl y borne t he black fl ower of ci vi li zed society, a pri son. But, on one side of t he por tal, and r oot ed almost at t he thr eshold, was a wi ld r osebush, cover ed, i n thi s month of June, wi th i ts deli cat e gems, whi ch mi ght be i magi ned to of fer t hei r fr agr ance and f ragil e beauty to t he pri soner as he went i n, and t o the condem ned cr i m i nal as he cam e for th t o his doom, i n token that the deep hear t of Nat ure could pi ty and be ki nd to hi m. Appar ent ly, the author makes a cont rast bet ween t he ugly j ailhouse wit h a t angl ed gr as pl ot over gr own wi th bur dock and pi gweed and something as beaut if ul as a wil d r ose. As the stor y unfol ds, he wil l fur ther suggest t hat secr et si n and a pret y chil d may go t ogether li ke a pigweed and wi ld r oses. In t his ar tf ul ly cr aft ed novel, seti ng is inti mately blended wi t h char act er s, symboli sm , and t heme. I n addi ti on to pl ace, set ti ng may crucial ly i nvol ve the t ime of the stor y—cent ury, year , or even specif ic hour. I t may mat er gr eat ly that a st ory t akes pl aces in the mor ni ng or at noon. The medi eval backgr ound i nfor ms us dif fer ent ly f rom the t wenti et h cent ury. Kennedy and Gi oia note t hat i n The Scarl et Let ter, t he nieent hcentury aut hor Nat hani el Hawt hrone, ut il izes a long i nt r oducti on and a vivid descri pt ion of t he scene at a pr ison door to i nfor m us t hat t he events i n the stor y t ook pl ace i n the Puri tan muni ty of Boston of t he ear lier seventeenth centur y. This set ing, to which Hawt hor ne pays so m uch at tention, together wi th our schemata concer ning Pur it an pr act ice, hel ps us understand what happens in t he novel . We can under st and t o some extent the agit at ion i n the t own when a wom an is accused of adul tery, for adult er y was a f lagrant def iance of chur ch for t he God fear ing New Engl and Pur it an munit y, and an il legit im at e child was evi dence of sin. Wi thout i nfor mati on about the sevent enth centur y Puri tan backgr ound, a r eader today may be perpl exed at the novel . The fact that the story in Hawt horne’s novel took place in a ti me r em ot e f rom our own leads us t o expect dif fer ent at it udes and cust om s of the char act ers, is str ongl y suggestive of t he whole soci ety, which i s cr ucial to an essenti al understanding of The Scarl et Let ter as a whole. Besi