【正文】 oducti on must be set in a cert ain pl ace and t ime: we have an “ol d, shutt ered house” and the pr esent tense suggest s tim e (t hough the present t ense i ndi cat es much more t han ti me it sel f in t he story) . The el ement s making up a set ing ar e gener al ly: ( 1) t he act ual geogr aphi cal l ocati on, i ts t opogr aphy, scener y, and such physical ar angements as the l ocat ion of t he wi ndows and door s in a room。 she loved the pl ace and was l oved i n the pl ace. The val e, f ar fr om t he maddi ng crowd of t he civil ized cit y, was as ser ene and pur e as the i nhabit ant s. Tess, im bued deeply wi th the natur al hue of the val e and bound cl osely to t his wor ld of sim pli ci ty and secl usi on, exper ienced her own del ight and happines t hough her f am il y was poor . It was, t o some extent, her depart ure f rom her nat ive place that led t o her tr agedy. I n The Return of t he Nati ve, the at mosphere of Egdon Heath pr evai ls over the whole book。 ( 4) the gener al envir onment of t he character s, f or example, r el igi ous, mental, mor al , social , and emot ional condit ions thr ough whi ch char act er s in the stor y move. ( Hol man and Harman, A Handbook to l it erature, 1986) But of ten, in an ef fecti ve st ory, set ting may fi gure as mor e than mer e background. It can m ake t hi ngs happen. I t can pr ompt character s to act, br ing t hem to reali zati ons, or cause them to r eveal their i nner most nat ur es, as we shal se i n John Cheever’ s shor t st ory “The Swi mmer ”. Fi rst, as we have sai d, t he idea of set t ing i ncl udes t he physi cal environment of a story: a region, a landscape, a ci ty, a vil age, a str eet , a house—a par ti cul ar pl ace or a seri es of pl aces where a st or y occur s. ( Wher e a story takes pl ace i s som etim es cal ed it s locale.) Pl aces i n f icti on not only pr ovide a l ocat ion f or an acti on or an event of the story but also pr ovoke f eel ings in us. A si ght of a green f ield dot ted wi th fl ut ter ing daf odils af fects us very di f erentl y f rom a si ght of a di ngy al ley, a tr opi cal j ungl e, or a smal house cr owded wit h f ur nit ure. In addit ion t o a sense of beaut y or ugl iness, we usualy bui ld up cer tain associ at ions when we put ourselves in such a scene. We are depr essed by a dingy al ey, not onl y because it is ugl y, but because i t may arouse a feeli ng, perhaps som et im es unconsciously, of povert y, misery, vi olence, vici ousness, and t he str uggl es of human beings who have to l ive under such condi ti ons. A t ropical jungle, f or exam ple, in Joseph Conr ad’ s Heart of Darkness, mi ght i nvol ve a pli cat ed analysis: the pleasur e of the colour s and for ms of vegetati on, t he dis for t of humi dit y, heat , and insects, a sense of mystery, horr or, etc. The popular it y of Sir Wal ter Scot t’ s “Waver ley” novel s is due i n par t to their evocati on of a rom ant ic m ood of Scotl and. The Engli sh noveli st Gr aham Gr ene appar ent ly needed to vi si t a fr esh scene in or der t o wr it e a f resh novel . Hi s abil ity to encapsulate the esence of an exoti c set ti ng in a si ngl e book is exempli fi ed in The Heart of t he Matt er。 ( 2) t he occupati ons and dail y manner of l iving of t he char acter s。sum m i ng up the plot . A theme is usual ly stat ed in gener al words. Anot her t ry sounds li ke this: “Sol it ar y peopl e need a orderl y place where t hey can dr ink wi t h dignit y. ” That i s a l it le bet ter. We have i ndi cat ed that Hemingway’s stor y i s more t han merel y about an old m an and two wai ter s. We remember that at t he end the stor y is enti rel y conf ined t o the ol der wai ter’ s thought s and per cept ions. How do we understand his medi ati on on “nada,” nothi ngnes, which bears so m uch emphasi s? No good statement of the theme of t he st ory can l eave i t out . Then we have sti l anot her tr y: “Soli tary people need a pl ace of r ef uge fr om t hei r ter ri bl e awarenes t hat t hei r li fe ( or per haps, hum an li fe) is essenti al y meani ngles.” Neither thi s nor any ot her statement of the stor y’s theme is unar guabl y appr opri at e, but the stat em ent at least t ouches one pr im ar y i dea t hat Hem ingway sems t o be dri ving at . Af ter we read “A Cl ean, Wel Li ghted Place,” we feel that her e i s such a t hem e, a uni fying vi si on, even though we cannot r educe it t o a t ag and we may sti l vary i n our opi nion about, and st atement of , the t heme. 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 or t 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 slavery and mi grator y l abor r espect ively, thi s is t o use t heme in a lar ge r and mor e abstr act sense t han it is in our discussion of Hemi ngway’ s “A Cl ean, Wel Li ght ed Place.” I n thi s larger sense it i s rel at ively easy to say t hat Mar k Twai n’ s Huckl eber ry Finn, Updi ke’ s A amp。 P, and Faul kner ’s Bar n Burni ng concern t he theme of “ini ti at ion i nto m at uri ty