【正文】 and t he older wait er st ops at a cof f e bar on hi s way hom e—but whil e the event s t hemselves sem relati vel y sli ght , t he st or y as a whol e i s f ul l of m eani ng. For a deep under st andi ng of t he meani ng, we have t o l ook t o ot her elements of t he st ory besi des what happe ns i n it : nar r at ive, sym bol s, t one, the di al ogue bet wen t he t wo wai t er s, t he m onol ogue of t he older wait er , et c. Evi dent ly t he aut hor i ntends us to pay m ore at ent i on t o t he thought s and feeli 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 ry on t he t heme m ay be: “The older wait er understands the ol d m an and sym pat hi zes wit h his need f or a cl ean, wel li ghted pl ace.” But here we ar e sti l t al king about what happens i n t he stor y, t hough we ar e not summi ng up t he pl ot. A them e i s usual y st ated i n gener al wor ds. Anot her t ry sounds l i ke t his: “Soli t ar y peopl e need a or derl y place where t hey can dr ink wi t h di gnit y. ” That i s a li t l e bet er. We have i ndi cat ed that Hem i ngway’s st or y i s m ore t han m er el y about an old m an and t wo wai t er s. We rem em ber t hat at he end t he st or y i s enti r el y conf i ned t o t he ol der wai ter’s t houghts and percept i ons. How do we under st and hi s mediati on on “nada,” not hi ngness, whi ch bear s so m uch em phasis? No good st at em ent of t he t hem e of the stor y can leave i t out . Then we have st il l anot her tr y: “Sol it ar y peopl e need a pl ace of r ef uge f r om t heir t er ibl e awar eness t hat their l if e ( or per haps, human l if e) i s esent i al ly m eani ngl es.” Nei t her t hi s nor any ot her st atement of t he stor y’ s t heme i s unar guabl y appr opr i at e, but the stat em ent at l east t ouches one pr im ar y i dea t hat Hemi ngway sems t o be dri ving at. Af t er we read “A Cl ean, Wel Li ghted Pl ace,” we feel t hat t her e i s such a t hem e, a uni fyi ng vi si on, even t hough we cannot r educe it t o a t ag and we may sti l var y i n our opi ni on about, and st atement of , t he t hem e. Moral i nferences drawn f rom m ost st ori es: Mor al i nf er ences m ay be dr awn fr om m ost st ori es, no doubt , even when an aut hor does not i nt end hi s /her st ory t o be r ead t his way. I n “A Cl ean, Wel Li ght ed Place”, we f eel t hat Hemi ngway is i ndi r ectl y gi vi ng us advi ce f or properl y r egar di ng and sym pat hi zi ng t he l onel y, t he uncert ai n, and t he ol d. But obvi ousl y the st or y does not set f ort h a l esson that we are supposed t o put i nt o pr act ice. We can say f or sur e t hat “A Cl ean, Wel Li ghted Pl ace” cont ai ns sever al t hemes and other st atements could be m ade t o t ake i n Hemi ngway’ s vi ew of l ove, of m uni cat i on bet ween peopl e, of digni ty. Great st ori es, li ke great symphonies, f requent ly have mor e than one t heme. When we say t hat t he ti le of Pr ide and Pr ej udi ce conveys the t heme of t he novel or that Uncl e Tom’ s Cabi n and The Gr apes of Wr ath t reat the t hemes of slaver y and mi grator y l abor respect ively, this is to use t hem e in a larger and mor e abstr a ct sense t han it is i n our discussion of case t he noveli st i ntends to point out the profound cause of Gatsby’s tragedy. Dr. Wat son i n t he st ori es of Sherl ock Holmes serves as a foi l t o t he her o, r ender ing t he det ect ive smart er t han he would ot her wise appear t o the r eader. By t he degr ee of their devel opm ent , charact ers can be grouped as round charact ers and f lat characters. Thi s division is proposed by Forster . Round charact ers ar e f ul ly developed whil e f lat characters ar e not. Or we can say that round charact ers gr ow whi le fl at charact ers do not. Usual y the r eader is al lowed access to the inner li fe of t he round char act er and permit ted t o learn about many sides of t he round character. The flat character i s a “cl osed” charact er to whose inner thought s the r eader is denied access. Usual y one si de of the f lat char act er i s shown in t he novel. Most heroes are round charact ers who grow em otional y or spi ri tual y. Chapt er Three Them e Ar istotl e i n Poet ics l ists six basic el em ent s of tr agedy. M el ody (song) and dict ion ( language) fal l i n t he general cat egor y of style, and spectacle i s rel evant to set ing i n our di scussi on of fi ction. The other thr e aspect s ar e myt hos or pl ot , et hos or character , and dianoia, which we general ly t ranslate i nto “t hought” i n Engli sh. Accor ding t o Ar istot le, plot is t he “soul” or shapi ng pri nci pl e or fi cti on, and char act er s exist pr im ari ly as f uncti ons of t he plot . I n most of the stor ies, pl ot pl ays t he role of pr incipal st ructur e of the stor y. But , as Nor thr op Frye poi nt s out, besi des t he inter nal f icti on of the char act er and hi s/ her society, there is an external fi cti on consisti ng of a rel at ion between t he wr iter and the wr i ter’ s soci et y. We indeed have l it erary works by t he li kes of Shakespear e and Homer in whi ch art istr y is pl et ely absor bed in t hei r int er nal character s and we can har dl y perceive t he exi st ence of t he aut hor . However , as soon as the author’ s per sonal ity appears on t he hor izon, a rel at ion wi th the r eader is establi shed, and someti mes there seems no stor y at al l apar t f r om what the author is conveyi ng to hi s/ her r eader. I n t hi s case, the pri mary i nt er est i n dianoia, the i dea or t hought that reader gets f rom the wr i ter, whi ch in m oder n cri ti ci sm we general y cal “theme”. I. What Is Theme? One of the safest ment s to make about novels is on t he theme. Ever yone i s ent it led t o extr act a t heme based upon hi s under st andi ng of the