【正文】 his contempor ar y Evelyn Waugh st at ed that the West Afr ica of t hat book replaced the t rue r emembered West Afr ica of his own experi ence. Such power i s not un mon: the Yorkshir e moors have been romanti cized because Em il y Br ont e wr ot e of them in W ut heri ng Heights, and l it erary touri sts have vi sited St oke on Tr ent in nor thern Engl and because i t pr ises the “Fi ve Towns” of Arnold Ben’ s novel s of t he ear ly twenti eth century. Thus, a r eader ’s r eacti on to a place is not merely based upon the way i t looks, but upon t he potenti al it ies of act ion suggested by i t . Places matt er great ly t o many wri ters . For i nst ance, t he French novel ist Bal zac, before wri ti ng a stor y set i n a town, he would go and vi si t that town, sel ect a f ew l anes and houses, and descr ibes them i n detail , down to t heir very smel s. I n hi s vi ew t he place in whi ch an event occur s was of equal m oment wi th the event i tsel f , and i t has a part t o play. Anot her example i s Thomas Hardy, under whom t he present at ion of set ing asumes an unusual impor tance. Hi s “Wesex” vi l ages cast i ntangi bly such as spel upon the vi l ager s that once t hey l eave t hei r hom et owns they wi l i nevit ably suff er fr om disasters, and the f ar ther they are away fr om t hei r hom et owns, t he more, ter ri bl e t hei r di saster s wil l be. For exampl e, i n t he Tess of the D’ Urbervil les, t he Vale of Bl akemor e was the place where Tess was born and her li fe was t o unfol d. Every cont our of the surr oundi ng hil ls was as personal t o her as t hat of her r elati ves’ faces。 ( 3) the t ime or peri od in which t he act ion t akes place, f or exampl e, t he late ei ght enth cent ur y i n histor y or wint er of t he year 。 P, and Faul kner ’s Bar n Burni ng concern t he theme of “ini ti at ion i nto m at uri ty.” Such gener al descr ipt ions of theme can be usef ul, especial y if we want t o sort a l ar ge number of stor ies and novels into rough cat egor ies, but the f act t hat t hey ar e simi lar i n theme does not m ean t hat t hey m ean the sam e thi ng. The at it ude t owards t he theme may be very dif ferent: t he tone of tr eat ment may be, f or exampl e, eit her i c or tr agi c, str aightf orwar d or ir oni c. The wr i ter’ s vision of l if e is t he special under lying fact of a st or y, and a t hem e, abstr act ly stat ed, is not t he same t hing as a visi on of l if e. And we suggest anyway t hat , i n t he beginni ng, you look f or what ever t rut h or insight you t hink t he wr iter of a stor y int ends t o reveal . Try t o state a theme i n a sent ence. By doing so, we wi l fi nd ourselves looking closely at the st or y. Kennedy and Gioi a make a helpful suggesti on to consider the f ol lowi ng points when we thi nk about the t heme of a st ory: Look back once mor e at t he ti tl e of the stor y. What does it indicate in r elati on to the whole st or y? Does the mai n char act er in any way change i n t he st or y? Does thi s char acter ar ri ve at any event ual reali zat ion or under standi ng? Are you l eft wi th any r eal izati on or understanding af ter fi nishing r eadi ng the stor y? Does t he aut hor (t hr ough the nar ator) m ake any gener al observati ons about lif e or human nat ure? Do the char act ers m ake any ( Caut ion: Characters now and again wil l ut ter opinions wi th which the r eader i s not necessar il y supposed to agree.) Does t he st or y contain any especi al ly cur ious object s, m yst er ious f lat char act er s, signi fi cant ani mals, repeat ed nam es, special al usi ons, or what ever , t hat hi nt t owards meanings lar ger t han such thi ngs or dinari ly have? In l it erary st ori es, such symbols or met aphors m ay poi nt to centr al t hem es. When we have wor ked our statement of theme, have we cast our stat em ent int o gener al l anguage, not just gi ven a plot sum mary? Does our st at ement hold tr ue for t he st or y as a whol e, not just par t of i t? Chapt er Four Set ing “Once upon a t ime t here l ived a king named M idas in Phrygia. He l oved gold more t han anythi ng else but hi s li t le daught er. ” This i s the openi ng sent ences of “Gol den Touch”, whi ch intr oduces the t ime, pl ace, and t he usual mentali ty of t he char act er . What i s set ti ng? An event occur s and a char act er exists in a par ticular t ime and pl ace. This part icular ti me and place is refer red t o as set ti ng. A set i ng is t he background agai nst whi ch a char act er i s depi ct ed or an event nar rat ed. It s purpose is t o provide an i maginary li nk bet we en what happens i n the novel and what the r eader takes to be r eal it y. Li ke som e other el ement s, set ing i s not peculiar t o the novel. The reader f inds i t servi ng the same purpose in di f erent genr es. The tr adi ti onal way t o tel l a st ory r eveals much about set ti ng. Usual ly, a set ti ng consist s of t im e and pl ace. I t can also m ean cir cumstances such as Midas ’s mental it y. A set ing m ay be det ai led or sket chy. I t depends on t he novel ist’ s pur pose of wr it ing and hi s idea of works of art . A set ti ng may or may not be symbol ic. Gener al ly, a set ti ng is m ore concer ned wit h the physical aspects. Set ing i s cl osel y rel at ed wit h exposit ion i n t ha t t hey both hel p to make possible the event s in t he novel . I n f act , an exposi ti on must have a set ing. But set ing goes al ong wi th every event i n t he novel wher eas exposi ti on is onl y the i niti ati ng act ion. 1. The el ement s m aki ng up a set ing By the set ing of a st ory, we si mply m ean i ts pl ace and t ime, the physical , and somet imes spir it ual , backgr ound against which t he act ion of a nar ati ve takes pl ace. Ever y a stor y as shor t as t he one at t he begi nni ng of the i nt r