【正文】 to be r eal it y. Li ke som e other el ement s, set ing i s not peculiar t o the novel. The reader f inds i t servi ng the same purpose in di f erent genr es. The tr adi ti onal way t o tel l a st ory r eveals much about set ti ng. Usual ly, a set ti ng consist s of t im e and pl ace. I t can also m ean cir cumstances such as Midas’s mental it y. A set ing m ay be det ai led or sket chy. I t depends on t he novel ist’s pur pose of wr it ing and hi s idea of works of art . A set ti ng may or may not be symbol ic. Gener al ly, a set ti ng is m ore concer ned wit h the physical aspects. Set ing i s cl osel y rel at ed wit h exposit ion i n t hat t hey both hel p to make possible the event s in t he novel . I n f act , an exposi ti on must have a set ing. But set ing goes al ong wi th every event i n t he novel wher eas exposi ti on is onl y the i niti ati ng act ion. 1. The el ement s maki ng up a set ing By the set t i ng of a story, we simpl y mean it s place and ti me, the physi cal , and someti mes spi ri tual, backgr ound against whi ch the acti on of a nar rat ive t akes place. Every a story as short as the one a t the beginning of t he intr oduct ion m ust be set i n a cer t ai n place and ti me: we have an “old, shut ter ed house” and the present t ense suggests t ime (t hough t he pr esent tense indicates much mor e than t ime it self i n t he st or y). The elements maki ng up a seti ng are general y: (1) the actual geogr aphical location, it s topography, scener y, and such physical ar rangem ent s as the locati on of the wi ndows and doors i n a r oom。 she loved t he pl ace and was l oved i n t he pl ace. The vale, far fr om the madding crowd of the civi lized cit y, was as serene and pur e as the i nhabi tants. Tess, i mbued deeply wit h the natur al hue of the vale and bound closel y t o thi s worl d of si mpl icit y and seclusion, experi enced her own deli ght and happi ness though her f ami ly was poor. I t was, t o some extent, her depart ure f rom her nati ve place that led t o her t ragedy. I n The Return of t he Nati ve, the at mosphere of Egdon Heath pr evai ls over the whole book。 ( 4) t he general envi r onment of the char acte rs, for exam ple, reli gious, m ent al , moral , social, and emoti onal condi ti ons t hrough which character s in t he st ory move. ( Holman a nd Har man, A Handbook t o li terat ure, 1986) But oft en, i n an ef ect ive stor y, set ing may f igur e as more t han mere backgr ound. I t can make t hings happen. It can prompt char act er s t o act , br ing t hem t o r eal izati ons, or cause them to r eveal their i nner most natur es, as we shal l see i n John Cheever’s shor t st or y “The Swi mmer”. Fir st, as we have said, t he idea of set ti ng i ncl udes t he physi cal environment of a st ory: a r egion, a landscape, a cit y, a vi l age, a str et , a house—a par ticular place or a ser ies of places wher e a stor y occur s. ( Wher e a st ory takes pl ace i s som et im es cal ed it s locale.) Pl aces i n fi cti on not only pr ovide a l ocati on f or an acti on or an event of t he story but also pr ovoke f el ings in us. A sight of a green f ield dot ted wi th f lut ter ing daf odi ls af fects us very di f erentl y fr om 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 ines, we usual ly bui ld up cer tain associat ions when we put our sel ves in such a scene. We are depressed by a di ngy al ey, not only because i t is ugly, but because i t may arouse a feeli ng, perhaps som et im es unconsciously, of povert y, m iser y, vi olence, viciousness, and t he st ruggles of human beings who have to l ive under such condi ti ons. A t ropical jungle, for exam pl e, i n Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darknes , might involve a pl i cat ed anal ysi s: t he pleasur e of t he col ours and f or ms of veget ation, the di sf ort of humidi ty, heat, and insect s, a sense of m yst er y, hor ror , et c. The popul ari ty of Si r Walt er Scott ’s “Waverl ey” novels i s due in part t o t hei r evocat ion of a r omanti c mood of Scot land. The Engl ish novel ist Graham Gr eene apparentl y needed t o visit a f resh scene i n order to wri te a fr esh novel. Hi s abi li ty t o encapsul ate t he essence of an exot ic set ing i n a single book i s exempl if ied i n The Heart of the M at ter。 (2) t he occupat ions and dai ly m anner of li vi ng of the characters。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 aut hor 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 properl y regarding and sympathi zi 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 pr acti ce. We can say f or sur e that “A Clean, Wel Li ght ed Place” contai ns several themes and other st at ement s coul d be made t o take in Hemingway’s vi ew of love, of m uni cat ion between peopl e, of digni ty. Great st ori es, li ke great symphonies, f requent ly have mor e t han one t heme. When we say t hat t he ti tle of Pr ide and Pr ej udice conveys the t hem e of the novel or that Uncle Tom’s Cabi n and The Gr apes of Wr ath t reat the t hem es of slavery and mi grat or y l abor r espect ively, thi s is t o use t heme in a lar ger 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 i t i s rel at ively easy to say t hat Mar k Twai n’s Huckl eber ry Fi nn, Updi ke’s A amp。 P, and Faulkner’s Barn Bur ning concer n the t hem e of “i nit iati on int o matur it y. ” Such general