【正文】 . Li ke some ot her el em ent s, set ing i s not pecul iar to the novel . The reader f inds it serving the sam e purpose in di f er ent genres. The tr adi ti onal way to tel a st or y r eveals m uch about set ing. Usual ly, a set ti ng consists of t ime and pl ace. It can also mean cir cum st ances such as Midas’ s mentali ty. A set ing may be detai led or sket chy. It depends on t he noveli st ’s pur pose of wr it ing and his i dea of wor ks of ar t. A set ing m ay or may not be symboli c. General ly, a set ti ng is mor e concerned wi th the physi cal aspects. Set ti ng is cl osely related wi t h exposit ion i n that they both hel p to m ake possi ble t he events in t he novel. I n f act , an exposi ti on must have a set ti ng. But seti ng goes al ong wit h ever y event i n the novel wher eas exposi ti on is only the ini ti at ing acti on. 1. The element s making up a set t ing By the set ing of a st ory, we sim pl y mean i ts place and ti me, the physi cal , and someti mes spi ri tual, backgr ound agai nst whi ch the action of a nar rati ve takes place. Every a st ory as shor t as the one at the begi nning of the i ntr oducti on must be set in a cer tain pl ace and t im e: we have an “old, shut tered house” and t he present tense suggest s ti me ( though the pr esent t ense i ndi cat es much more than ti me i tself in the stor y). The elements m aki ng up a set ti ng ar e gener al y: ( 1) the actual geographical ocat ion, it s topogr aphy, scenery, and such physi cal ar angements as t he locat ion of t he windows and doors i n a r oom 。 she l oved t he place and was loved in t he place. The vale, far f rom the m adding cr owd of the ci vi li zed ci ty, was as serene and pure as t he inhabi tants. Tess, imbued deepl y wit h t he nat ur al hue of t he val e and bound cl osely t o t hi s wor ld of sim pl icit y and secl usi on, exper ienced her own deli ght and happi ness t hough her fami ly was poor. I t was, t o som e ext ent , her depar tur e f rom her nati ve place that led to her t ragedy. In The Return of the Nat ive, the atm osphere of Egdon Heat h pr evail s over t he whole book。 (4) the general envi ronment of t he char act er s, f or exampl e, r eligi ous, mental, m or al, soci al , and em ot ional condit ions thr ough which char act ers i n the st or y move. (Hol man and Harman, A Handbook to lit erat ure, 1986) But oft en, in an ef fecti ve story, set ti ng m ay f i gur e as m ore t han mere backgr ound. I t can m ake t hings happen. I t can pr ompt char act er s to act , br ing t hem t o reali zat ions, or caus e t hem to reveal t hei r innermost nat ures, as we shal se in John Cheever ’s shor t st ory “The Swi mmer ”. Fi rst, as we have sai d, t he i dea of set ing i ncludes the physical envi ronment of a story: a region, a landscape, a ci ty, a vil lage, a st reet, a house—a par ti cul ar pl ace or a seri es of pl aces where a st ory occurs. (Wher e a stor y takes place is someti mes cal led i ts l ocale.) Places i n f icti on not onl y provide a l ocat ion f or an act ion or an event of the stor y but al so pr ovoke f eel ings i n us. A si ght of a gr en f iel d dot ted wi t h fl utt er ing daf odil s af fects us ver y dif ferentl y f rom a sight of a di ngy aley, a tr opical j ungl e, or a smal l house cr owded wi th f urni ture. In addi ti on to a sense of beaut y or ugli ness, we usual y build up cer tain associ ations when we put ourselves in such a scene. We ar e depr essed by a dingy al ey, not onl y because it is ugl y, but because i t may arouse a f eli ng, per haps som etim es unconsciously, of povert y, m isery, violence, vici ousnes, and t he str uggl es of human beings who have to l ive under such condi ti ons. A t ropical jungle, for exam ple, in Joseph Conr ad’ s Heart of Darknes, mi ght i nvol ve a pl icated analysis: the pleasur e of the colours and f orm s of vegetati on, t he di sf ort of humi di ty, heat , and i nsects, a sense of myst ery, hor ror , et c. The populari ty of Si r Walt er Scot t’s “Waver ley” novels is due in par t to t hei r evocati on of a romanti c mood of Scot land. The Engl ish novel ist Gr aham Greene appar ent ly needed t o visi t a fr esh scene i n or der t o wr ite a fr esh novel. Hi s abi li ty t o encapsulate t he esence of an exotic set ing i n a singl e book i s exem pl if ied i n The Heart of the M att er 。 ( 2) the occupati ons and dail y manner of l ivi ng of t he char act er s。opi ni on about, and statement of , the t hem e. Moral i nferences drawn f rom most st ories: Mor al infer ences may be drawn fr om m ost stori es, no doubt, even when an author does not i nt end his /her st ory t o be r ead t his way. In “A Clean, Wel Li ght ed Place”, we f eel t hat Hemi ngway is i ndi rectl y givi ng us advice f or proper ly regarding and sympathizi ng the l onel y, t he uncert ai n, and t he old. But obvi ously the stor y does not set f ort h a lesson that we are supposed to put i nt o practi ce. We can say f or sur e that “A Clean, Wel Li ght ed Place” contai ns several themes and ot her st at ement s coul d be made t o take in Hemingway’s vi ew of love, of muni cat ion between peopl e, of digni ty. Great st ori es, li ke great symphonies, f requent ly have mor e than one t heme. When we say t hat t he ti tle of Pr ide and Pr ej udice conveys the t heme of t he novel or that Uncle Tom’ s Cabi n and The Gr apes of Wr ath t reat the t hemes of slaver y and m i gr at or y labor respect ively, this i s to use t hem e in a larger and more abstr act sense t han i t is i n our discussion of Hemi ngway’s “A Clean, Wel Li ght ed Place. ” In this larger sense it i s relat ively easy to say t hat Mar k Twain’ s Huckl eber ry Fi nn, Updi ke’ s A amp。 P, and Faulkner’ s Barn Bur ning concer n t he theme of “init iati on int o matur it y.” Such gener al descr ipti ons of t hem e