【正文】 eme exi st s onl y i n the novel t hat seri ousl y atem pt s to refl ect l if e fai thful ly or i ntends to r eveal tr uth about l if e, or i n the novels t hat are based on ideas or t heor ies of li fe. ( for exam pl e, novels of ideas). Another misconcepti on about theme i s that the t hem e is l ar gely what the novel i s. Some people di scard the novel when t hey t hink t hat t hey have got the t heme. It should be m ade clear that the novel i s not wr i t en to convey an idea but t o convey an i dea a r ti st ical y. The novel i s a wor k of ar t whereas the t heme is only an abstr act i dea. An anal ogy fr om dail y l if e may help cl ar if y t hi s questi on. People al l need vit amins and get hem f rom var ious kinds of veget abl es and f rui ts. Only t hose wi th def iciency of one ki nd or anot her have to take vit am in pi l s to get the r equi red amount. The dif fer ence between t he theme and the novel i s much l ike t hat between the vi tami ns and t he vegetables. The reader someti mes fi nds that he theme of a novel i s simi lar to or even t he same as what he has al ready known about li fe and t hat he i s st il l fasci nat ed by the novel. Them e appeals solely to t he int el lectual level of r eadi ng whil e the novel as a whol e mainl y appeals t o the emot ional evel . Anot her pi tf al l concerning t he theme i s to conf use a t hem e wi th m or al or l eson. Usual y, a m oral or a lesson i s the advice stated or i mpli ed in a par abl e or fable. It i s som et hing of a r ul e by whi ch one can r egul at e his behavi or. For exampl e, “Be kind to your nei ghbor s, ” or “Honesty i s the best pol icy.” But a t heme is mor e pli cated t han thi s as a novel is t o enhance one’ s awar eness of li fe r ather than simpl y to tel him how t o behave. A novel i s a pli cat ed mat er and dif fer ent r eaders m ay have di f er ent i nterpr etati ons of t he same novel, so it i s incorr ect t o pr esum e t hat one novel has onl y one theme. In some cases, there ar e several subt hem es to t he main t hem e. I n r eal it y, some novel s are appreciated f or their t hem at ic ambi gui ty. For example, Moby Di ck can be inter preted i n mor e ways than one. Fi nal ly, the t heme is not to be confused wi th t he subject. The t hem e is an i dea whi le the subj ect i s a mat er or an af fair . “Love i s invincibl e” m ay be a theme, but “l(fā) ove” i s onl y a subject . A subject m ay be uni ver sal . The subjects of The Scarl et Let ter, The Great Gatsby, and Wom en in Love are al l “l(fā) ove. ” But these novels have dif fer ent themes. A theme i s part icular to its novel, t hough t her e are m any si mil ar t hem es to be f ound in ot her novel s. I I . Five Requir em ent s for St at ing a Theme The st at ement of a t hem e may be bri ef or l ong. And t her e are di f erent ways to express one and t he same theme. But i t should meet t he foll owing requi rem ent s. A theme m ust be expressed in t he f orm of a stat em ent wi t h a subject and a predi cat e. For example, “Love of one’s count ry of ten i nspi res her oi c self sacri fi ce. ” If a t hem e is expressed i n t he for m of a phrase, t hen the phrase must be convert ible t o sent ence f orm . One can say that the t hem e of a novel is “f util it y of envy.” The phr ase can be changed to “envy i s fut ile. ” When one chooses to stat e a theme i n t he phr ase f orm , he m ust be very car ef ul about it s convert ibil it y to sentence for m. For instance ,the phr ase “sel fl es m at er nal ove” does not al ways mean that “m at er nal ove is self less. ” The t hem e is general izati on about l if e based on the novel, and the st atement of theme should be true also of other people or l if e sit uat ions. Ther ef ore, names of character s and pl aces shoul d not be m ent ioned, f or they suggest speci fi c thi ngs and i nvi te l im it at ions. So in t hem at ic di scussi on of Wuthering H ei ghts , one m ay mention “people’s psychology of r evenge, ” but not “Heathclif f ’s.” Though a theme i s a generali zat ion, over general izat ion shoul d be avoided. Since a theme is extr act ed fr om a par ticular novel ( a part icular event) , it may not be appl icable t o al si t uat i ons. So wor ds li ke “al ways, ” “never, ” “al l, ” and “every” shoul d be avoi ded. I nst ead, one should use wor ds l ike “some,” “som et im es, ” and “m ay.” When making a generali zat ion, one should st ri ct ly keep t o what i s act ual ly in t he novel and not smuggle i nto i t assumpti ons s uppl ied f r om his past experi ence. Since theme is t he cent ral and uni fying idea of the novel, it m ust account f or all t he major det ai ls and must not be contradict ed by an detai ls i n the novel. Si nce a theme i s dif ferent from a moral or a leson, one should avoi d reduci ng a them e to a cl ich233。t r oubl e wi th the hero Jordan, yet he i s a main character as his wi fe Pi lar i s. Minor char acter s are t hose i n remot e and st ati c relat ion wi th the hero. It i s wr ong t o t hi nk tha t mi nor characters ar e al unimpor tant. I n som e novels, one or some of t he minor char act ers m ay ser ve a cr it ical rol e, str uct ural y or int er pret at ional y. Foil charact ers are ones that hel p enhance the i ntensi ty of t he hero by strengt heni ng or cont rast ing. They may be m ain charact ers or m inor characters. I n a wor d, they ser ve as foil s to the hero or heroi ne. Cohn i n The Sun Also Ri ses i s a good exampl e. He is one of the mai n charact ers. Like Jake, he is al so “l(fā) ost ,” t rying vai nl y t o escape the past by court ing wom en and dr inking. But dur ing t heir stay i n Spai n, Cohn di spl ays quali ti es i n cont rast to t hose cheri shed by Jake, whi ch makes Jake reali ze hi s own pr obl ems and fi nal ly f ind a sol ut ion, though tempor ar il y. Cohn wor ks mainl y by co