【正文】 s t he least r estr ict ive. The t hem e of a novel is its contr oll ing i dea or i ts centr al i nsi ght . Bei ng an idea or an insight, t he theme shoul d be abst ract and it should general ize about l if e. Label ed as cont roll ing or centr al , the t heme should be capabl e of uni fyi ng the whol e novel. So t he theme of a stor y, t hen, is what ever gener al i dea or i nsi ght t he ent ir e story reveal s. I I. Cl ar if icati on about Them e Common as i t is, theme suff er s some mi sunderstandings. One misconcepti on about theme i s that each novel has a theme or t hemes, or theme i s i m por t ant to al l novels. In fact, som e novel s, i nt eresting ones t hough, do not pr ovi de any i nsi ght i nto l if e. For example, many novels of r ati oci nat ion and novel s of hor ror . These novel s ar e aim ed at enter taining the r eader, not at i mproving hi s under st andi ng of l if e. They m ay somet imes t ouch upon the human natur e or soci al pr obl em s, but these issues are onl y used t o push the plot f or ward and t hey are not menti oned f or their own value. Them e exi st s only i n t he novel that ser iousl y at em pts t o ref lect l if e f ai thf ully or intends to r eveal tr uth about li fe, or i n t he novels t hat ar e based on i deas or theori es of l if e. ( for exam ple, novels of i deas). Another mi sconcepti on about t heme is t hat the t hem e is l argely what t he novel is. Som e people di scar d the novel when t hey think t hat hey have got the t hem e. I t should be m ade cl ear t hat the novel is not wri t en to convey an idea but t o convey an i dea ar ti st ical y. The novel i s a wor k of art whereas the t hem e is only an abstr act i dea. An analogy f r om dai ly l if e may help cl ari fy t his quest ion. People al l need vi tami ns and get them f r om vari ous ki nds of veget abl es and fr ui ts. Only those wit h defi ci ency of one kind or anot her have t o take vit am in pi l s to get the r equi red amount. The dif f er ence between t he theme and the novel is much l ike t hat between the vi tami ns and t he veget abl es. The reader someti mes fi nds that the theme of a novel is simi lar t o or even t he same as what he has al ready known about li fe and t hat he i s stil l fasci nat ed by the novel. Theme appeals solel y to the int el lectual level of r eadi ng whil e the novel as a whol e mainl y appeals t o the emot ional level . Anot her pi tf al l concerni ng the t heme is t o conf use a theme wi th m oral or l eson. Usual y, a moral or a lesson i s the advice stated or i mpli ed in a par abl e or fable. It i s somet hing of a r ule by whi ch one can r egul at e his behavi or. For exampl e, “Be ki nd to your nei ghbor s, ” or “Honesty i s the best pol icy.” But a t heme is mor e pli cat ed than thi s as a novel is t o enhance one’ s awar eness of li fe rather than sim pl y t o tel hi m how to behave. A novel i s a pli cat ed mat er and dif f er ent r eaders m ay have di f er ent i nter pr etati ons of t he same novel, so it i s incorr ect t o presume that one novel has onl y one theme. In some cases, there ar e several subt hem es t o t he main t hem e. I n r eal it y, some novel s are appreciated f or their t hemat 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 wit h t he subject. The t heme is an i dea whi le t he subj ect i s a mat er or an af air . “Love i s invincibl e” m ay be a theme, but “l(fā) ove” i s onl y a subj ect . A subj ect m ay be uni ver sal . The subjects of The Scarl et Let ter, The Great Gatsby, and Women in Love are al l “l(fā) ove. ” But these novels have dif fer ent themes. A theme i s part icular to i ts novel, though t her e are m any sim il 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 em ent of a t hem e may be bri ef or l ong. And t her e ar e dif f er ent ways t o expr es one and the same t hem e. But it shoul d meet the f oll owi ng r equi rements. A t hem e must be expressed i n t he form of a st atement wi th a subj ect and a predi cat e. For exam pl e, “Love of one’ s countr y of ten i nspir es her oic self sacr if ice.” I f a t heme is expressed i n the f orm of a phrase, t hen t he phrase must be conver ti ble t o sent ence f or m. One can say that the theme of a novel is “fut il it y of envy.” The phr ase can be changed to “envy is f uti le.” When one chooses t o state a theme i n the phr ase f or m, he must be ver y careful about i ts conver ti bil ity to sentence for m. For i nst ance , the phrase “self less mater nal l ove” does not always m ean t hat “mater nal l ove i s sel fl es.” The theme i s generali zat ion about li fe based on t he novel , and the stat ement of t heme should be t rue also of other peopl e or li fe si tuat ions. Theref ore, nam es of char acters and places should not be menti oned, f or t hey suggest specif i c things and invi te l imi tat ions. So i n themat ic di scussi on of Wut heri ng Height s, one may ment ion “people’s psychol ogy of revenge,” but not “Heathcl if f’ s. ” Though a t hem e is a general izati on, overgenerali zat ion should be avoi ded. Si nce a theme is ext racted f rom a par ti cular novel (a par ti cul ar event ), i t may not be appli cabl e to al l si tuati ons. So wor ds l ike “always,” “never ,” “al ,” and “ever y” should be avoided. Instead, one shoul d use words li ke “some, ” “someti mes,” and “may.” When m aki ng a gener al izati on, one shoul d str ictl y keep to what is actual y i n the novel and not sm uggl e int o it assumpt ions s uppli ed f rom hi s past exper ience. Si nce t heme i s the central and unif yi ng i dea of t he novel , it must account for al l the m aj or detail s and must not be cont radi cted by an det ail s in t he novel . Since a t