【正文】 as an envi ronment, i t absorbs some and repels ot her s of the char act ers: those who are absor bed achi eve a somber integr at ion wi th it , but those who ar e repeled 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 nextr icably ent angled wi th the pr ot agoni st , and even car r ies st rong symboli c meani ngs. Cathy as an i mage of the f em inine 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 gr assplot , much over gr own wi th bur dock, pi gweed, appl e peru, and such unsi ght ly vegetati on, whi ch evi dent ly found som et hing congenial i n the soil t hat had so ear ly bor ne the b。 hi s cont em por ary Evel yn Waugh st ated that the West Af ri ca of t hat book r epl aced t he tr ue remembered West Af ri ca of hi s own exper ience. Such power i s not unmon: the Yor kshir e moor s have been romant icized because Emil y Br onte wr ote of t hem in Wutheri ng Heights, and li terar y tour ists have visit ed StokeonTr ent i n nort her n England because it pri ses t he “Fi ve Towns” of Ar nol d Ben ’s novel s of the earl y twent ieth centur y. Thus, a reader ’s r eact ion t o a place is not mer el y based upon the way it looks, but upon the potenti alit ies of act ion suggested by it. Pl aces mat t er great l y to many writ ers . For instance, the Fr ench noveli st Balzac, bef or e wr it ing a st or y set in a t own, he woul d go and visit t hat t own, select a few lanes and houses, and descr i bes t hem in det ai l, down t o their ver y smels. In his view the place i n which an event occur s was of equal m om ent wi th t he event it sel f, and it has a par t to pl ay. Another exam pl e is Thomas Har dy, under whom the pr esentati on of set ting assumes an unusual i mport ance. His “Wessex” vil lages cast int angibl y such as spel l upon the vil lagers t hat once they leave their hometowns t hey wil l inevit abl y suf fer f rom disast er s, and t he fart her t hey ar e away f rom their hometowns, the mor e, t er ibl e their disast ers wi l be. For example, in the Tes of t he D’ Urbervi l es, the Val e of Blakem ore was t he place wher e Tes was bor n and her l if e was to unf old. Ever y contour of the sur r ounding hi l s was as per sonal to her as that of her rel at ives’ f aces。 ( 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 Bur ni ng concern the t heme of “i ni ti at ion into maturi ty.” Such general descri ptions of theme can be usef ul, especial y i f we want to sort a l arge number of st or ies and novel s int o rough categor ies, but t he fact that hey are sim il ar i n theme does not mean that hey mean the same thi ng. The at it ude towards t he theme may be ver y dif fer ent : the tone of t reatment may be, f or exampl e, ei ther i c or tr agi c, st raightf orwar d or ir onic. The wri ter ’s visi on of l if e i s the speci al under lyi ng fact of a st ory, and a theme, abstr act ly st at ed, i s not t he same thing as a vi si on of li fe. And we suggest anyway t hat , in t he begi nni ng, you l ook for whatever t rut h or insight you think the wr it er of a stor y i nt ends t o r eveal. Try to stat e a theme i n a sentence. By doing so, we wi l f ind ourselves looking cl osely at t he st ory. Kennedy and Gi oi a make a helpf ul suggesti on t o consi der the f oll owi ng point s when we thi nk about the t hem e of a story: Look back once mor e at the ti tl e of the stor y. What does it i ndi cat e in relat ion t o the whol e st ory? Does t he m ain character in any way change in t he st ory? Does t hi s char act er ar ri ve at any event ual r eal izati on or understanding? Ar e you lef t wi t h any reali zat ion or under st andi ng aft er f ini shi ng readi ng the st or y? Does the author (t hrough t he nar rator ) make any general obser vat ions about li fe or human natur e? Do t he character s make any (Cauti on: Character s now and agai n wi l utt er opini ons wit h which t he reader i s not necesari ly supposed to agr ee. ) Does t he story cont ai n any especial y cur ious objects, mysteri ous f l at char act ers, si gni f icant animal s, r epeated names, speci al al lusions, or whatever , that hint towar ds meanings l ar ger t han such t hings ordinar ily have? I n li ter ar y stor ies, such symbol s or metaphor s may point to centr al themes. When we have wor ked our st at ement of t heme, have we cast our st at ement i nto general language, not j ust given a plot sum m ar y? Does our st atement hol d tr ue for t he st ory as a whol e, not just par t of i t? Chapt er Four Set ing “Once upon a t ime there l ived a king named M idas in Phrygia. He l oved gold more t han anyt hing else but hi s li t le daughter. ” This i s the openi ng sent ences of “Gol den Touch”, whi ch int roduces t he ti me, pl ace, and the usual mental ity of the char act er. What is set i ng? An event occur s and a char act er exists i n a part icular t ime and pl ace. This part icular ti me and place is r efer red t o as set ting. A set ing is t he background agai nst whi ch a char acter i s depi ct ed or an event nar rated. It s purpose is t o provide an i maginary link bet ween what happens i n the novel a nd what the r eader tak