【正文】 and the ol der wai ter stops at a coff e bar on his way home—but whi le t he events themselves sem r el at ivel y sli ght , t he story as a whole is f ul l of meaning. For a deep under st anding of t he meaning, we have t o look t o ot her el ements of t he story bes。 and the ol der wai ter stops at a coff e bar on his way home—but whi le t he events themselves sem r el at ivel y sli ght , t he story as a whole is f ul l of meaning. For a deep under st andi ng of t he m eani ng, we have t o l ook t o ot her el em ent s of t he st or y besi des what happens i n i t : nar r at i ve, sym b ol s, t one, t he di al ogue bet ween t he t wo wai t er s, t he m onol ogue of t he ol der wai t er , et c. Evi dent l y t he aut hor i nt ends us t o pay m or e at t ent i on t o t he t hought s and f eel i 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 r y on t he t hem e m ay be: “The ol der wai t er under st ands t he ol d m an and sym pat hi zes wi t h hi s need f or a cl ean, wel l l i ght ed pl ace. ” But her e we ar e st i l l t al ki ng about what happens i n t he st or y, t hough we ar e not t r oubl e wit h the hero Jordan, yet he i s a main char acter as his wif e Pi lar is. Mi nor charact er s ar e t hose in remote and static r el at ion wit h the hero. It is wrong to think that mi nor charact er s ar e al l unimpor tant . I n some novels, one or some of the minor character s may serve a cr it cal role, str uctural y or int er pr et at ional y. Foi l charact ers are ones that help enhance t he i nt ensit y of the hero by st rengt hening or cont rast ing. They m ay be main characters or minor characters. I n a wor d, t hey serve as f oils t o the hero or heroine. Cohn in The Sun Also Ri ses is a good exampl e. He is one of the mai n charact ers. Like Jake, he i s al so “l(fā)ost ,” tryi ng vainly to escape t he past by courting women and drinki ng. But during their st ay i n Spain, Cohn di splays quali ti es in cont rast to t hose cher ished by Jake, whi ch makes Jake real ize hi s own problems and finaly f ind a soluti on, though tempor ar ily. Cohn works mainl y by contr ast. Wi lson i n The Great Gatsby works by pr esenti ng. Gat sby lost his lover t o Tom and Wilson lost his wife to Tom. By present ing Wil son’s case t he noveli st intends to point out the profound cause of Gatsby’s t ragedy. Dr. Watson i n the st or ies of Sherl ock Holmes serves as a foil to t he her o, renderi ng t he detect ive smart er than he woul d ot her wi se appear t o the reader . By t he degr e of thei r development, characters can be grouped as round characters and f lat charact ers. This di vi si on i s pr oposed by E. M Forster. Round characters are f ul ly devel oped whi le fl at charact ers ar e not. Or we can say that round characters grow whil e fl at characters do not . Usual y the reader i s al lowed aces to t he i nner l if e of the round char acter and per mit ed t o learn about many sides of the round character. The fl at character i s a “closed” character to whose inner thought s the reader i s deni ed acces. Usual ly one side of t he f lat char acter i s shown in the novel . Most heroes are round charact ers who gr ow emoti onaly or spir itualy. Chapter Three Theme Aristotl e in Poet ics l ists si x basic el ements of t ragedy. Melody ( song) and dicti on ( language) f al l i n the gener al cat egor y of style, and spect acle is r el evant to set ti ng i n our di scussion of f ict ion. The ot her three aspects ar e mythos or pl ot , ethos or charact er , and di anoia, which we gener al ly tr anslate into “thought” in Engl ish. Acording to Ar ist ot le, pl ot is the “soul” or shaping pr inci ple or f iction, and charact er s exist pri mar il y as f uncti ons of t he plot. I n m ost of the st or ies, pl ot plays t he r ol e of pri nci pal str ucture of the st or y. But , as Nort hr op Fr ye poi nt s out, besides t he i nt er nal fi cti on of the charact er and his/her soci ety, ther e is an external fi ct ion consi sti ng of a r el ati on bet ween t he wri ter and the wri ter’s oci et y. We indeed have l it er ar y wor ks by t he li kes of Shakespeare and Homer i n whi ch art istr y is pletely absorbed i n thei r i nt er nal charact er s and we can har dl y percei ve t he exist ence of t he aut hor. However , as soon as t he aut hor ’s per sonali ty appear s on t he hori zon, a r el ati on wi th t he r eader is est ablished, and sometim es ther e seem s no story at al apart fr om what the aut hor is conveying to his/her r eader. I n t hi s case, the pr imary i nt er est i n di anoia, t he i dea or t hought that r eader gets f rom t he wri ter, whi ch i n m oder n cri ti cism we general y cal “t heme”. I. What Is Theme? One of the saf est m ents t o m ake about novel s is on the theme. Everyone is ent itl ed t o ext ract a them e based upon hi s under st andi ng of t he novel . Them e m ay be the m ost democr at ic el em ents i n l it er at ur e, because i ts def initi on i s the least restr icti ve. The t hem e of anovel i s i ts contr ol li ng i dea or it s centr al insi ght. Bei ng an i dea or an insi ght, t he t heme should be abstr act and it shoul d gener al ize about li fe. Labeled as cont roll ing or centr al , t he t heme shoul d be capabl e of unifying the whol e novel . So the theme of a stor y, then, is what ever general i dea or i nsight t he entir e st or y reveals. I . Cl ar if icati on about Theme Common as it is, t heme suff er s some misunder st andings. One mi sconcepti on about t heme is that each novel has a t heme or themes, or t heme is i mport ant to al novel s. In f act, some novels, i nt er esti ng ones though, do not provide any insi ght into l ife. For exampl e, many novels of ratiocinat ion and novel s of hor ror. These novel s are aimed at enter taining the reader, not at i mpr oving hi