【正文】 as an envir onment , it absor bs some and r epel s others of the character s: t hose who ar e abs orbed achieve a som ber i nt egrati on wit h i t, but t hose who ar e r epel ed and rebel suf fer disast er . Som et im es an envi ronment serves as more than a mere place to set t he st ory. Of ten, it i s inext ri cabl y entangl ed wit h t he pr otagonist, and even car ies str ong sym bol ic m eanings. Cat hy as an im age of the f emi ni ne per sonali ty, f or example, in Emil y Br ont e’s Wut hering Hei ght s , i s not supposed t o posses t he “wi l dernes” char act eri st ic of mascul ini ty and symboli zed by t he locales of Heat hcl if f and Wuthering H ei ghts. In some f icti on, set ing i s closel y bound wit h theme. In The Scarlet Let er, even smal l detai ls af ord power ful hint s at t he theme of t he st ory. At the start of t he st ory, the nar ator descri bes a col oni al j ailhouse: Befor e t hi s ugly edif ice, and between i t and the wheeltr ack of the str et , was a gr as pl ot, much overgrown wit h burdock, pi gwed, appl e peru, and such unsi ght l y veget at i on, which evidentl y found something congeni al i n t he soi l t hat 。 hi s cont emporary Evel yn Waugh stated t hat t he West Af ri ca of that book r epl aced t he tr ue remember ed West Af ri ca of hi s own exper ience. Such power is not unm on: t he Yor kshi re m oor s have been r om ant icized because Emi ly Br onte wr ote of t hem i n Wuthering Hei ght s, and li ter ar y t our ists have visi ted StokeonTr ent i n nort her n England because it pri ses t he “Five Towns” of Ar nol d Ben ’s novels of the earl y t went iet h cent ur y. Thus, a reader’s react ion t o a place i s not mer ely based upon t he way it l ooks, but upon the potent iali ti es of acti on suggest ed by it . Places matt er greatl y t o many wri ters. For instance, t he Fr ench noveli st Bal zac, bef ore wr i ting a st ory set i n a t own, he woul d go and visit t hat town, select a few l anes and houses, and descr ibes them in detai l, down to their very sm el ls. In hi s view t he place in which an event occur s was of equal moment wit h the event i tself , and i t has a par t to pl ay. Another exampl e is Thomas Hardy, under whom the present ati on of set ing assumes an unusual im por tance. Hi s “Wesex” vil lages cast i ntangibly such as spel l upon t he vil ager s that once t hey leave their hometowns t hey wi l l i nevi tably suff er fr om di sasters, and the f art her t hey ar e away fr om t hei r hometowns, t he mor e, t er ri ble t hei r disast er s wi l be. For exam ple, in t he Tess of the D’ Urbervil les, the Vale of Bl akemor e was the pl ace wher e Tess was born and her li fe was to unf ol d. Ever y cont our of t he sur rounding hil ls was as personal t o her as t hat of her relat ives’ f aces。 (3) t he ti me or per iod in whi ch the acti on takes pl ace, for example, the l at e eighteenth century in hi st ory or wi nter of the year。 P, and Faulkner’s Barn Bur ning concer n the t hem e of “i nit iati on int o matur it y. ” Such general descr ipti ons of t hem e can be useful , especi al ly if we want to sor t a lar ge number of st ori es and novels i nt o r ough categori es, but the f act that they are si mi lar in t hem e does not mean that they mean t he same t hing. The at ti tude t owar ds the t hem e may be very di f er ent: the t one of t r eatm ent may be, for example, ei ther ic or t ragic, st r ai ght for ward or i ronic. The wr it er ’s vi sion of li fe is t he speci al underl ying f act of a stor y, and a t heme, abst ractl y stated, is not the same thi ng as a vision of l if e. And we suggest anyway that, in the beginning, you look f or what ever tr uth or i nsi ght you t hi nk the wr i ter of a st ory i ntends to r eveal. Tr y t o st ate a t hem e in a sentence. By doi ng so, we wil l fi nd our sel ves l ooki ng closel y at the stor y. Kennedy and Gi oia make a hel pful suggest ion t o consi der t he foll owing poi nt s when we t hink about t he theme of a stor y: Look back once more at the t it le of t he st ory. What does i t indicate i n rel at ion t o t he whol e stor y? Does t he main character i n any way change in the stor y? 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 wit h any reali zat ion or under st andi ng aft er f ini shi ng reading t he st or y? Does the author ( through 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: Char acter s now and agai n wi l utt er opi ni ons wit h which t he re ader i s not necesari ly supposed to agr ee. ) Does the story cont ai n any especial y curi ous objects, mysteri ous fl at characters, si gnif icant anim al s, r epeated names, speci al al lusions, or whatever, that hint towar ds m eani ngs l ar ger than such t hings ordinar il y have? I n li ter ar y stor ies, such sym bol s or metaphor s may point to cent ral themes. When we have worked our st at ement of t hem e, have we cast our st at ement i nto general language, not j ust given a pl ot summar y? Does our statement hol d t rue f or t he story as a whole, not j ust par t of it ? Chapter Four Set i ng “Once upon a time there li ved a ki ng named Mi das i n Phrygia. He loved gol d more than anyt hing el se but his l it tl e daughter.” This is the opening sent ences of “Golden Touch”, which i nt roduces t he ti me, place, and the usual m ent al i t y 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 ween what happens i n the novel a nd what the r eader takes