【正文】 i s not pecul iar 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 m uch 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 his 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 wi t h the physi cal aspects. Set ing i s cl osely relat 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 wit h 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 em ent s m aki ng up a set ing By the set ing of a st ory, we si mply m ean i ts pl ace and t ime, the physical , and somet imes spir it ual , backgr ound against which t he act ion of a nar ati ve takes pl ace. Ever y a stor y as shor t as t he one at t he begi nni ng of the i nt roducti 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 m uch 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 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 ural 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. I n The Return of the Nat ive, the atm osphere of Egdon Heath pr evail s over t he 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 make t hi ngs happen. I t can prompt char act ers t o act , bri ng them t o r eal izations, or cause them t o r eveal t hei r innerm ost natures, as we shal l see in John Cheever ’s short stor y “The Swimm er”. Fir st , as we have said, the i dea of set ti ng includes t he physical envi ronm ent of a st ory: a r egi on, a l andscape, a city, a vil lage, a st reet, a house—a part icular place or a ser ies of places wher e a story occurs. (Where a st or y t akes place is someti mes caled i ts l ocal e.) Places in f ict ion not onl y pr ovi de a location for an act ion or an event of the st or y but also provoke feeli ngs i n us. A sight of a gr een fi el d dott ed wit h f lutt eri ng daf fodil s af ect s us ver y dif fer ent ly fr om a sight of a dingy al ey, a t ropical jungle, or a sm al l house crowded wi th fur ni tur e. I n addi ti on to a sense of beauty or ugli ness, we usual y buil d up cert ai n asociati ons when we put our sel ves i n such a scene. We ar e depr esed by a di ngy al ley, not only because i t i s ugly, but because it may ar ouse a f eel ing, per haps someti mes unconsci ousl y, of pover ty, mi ser y, viol ence, vi ciousness, and the st ruggles of hum an bei ngs who have t o li ve under such condit ions. A tr opi cal j ungl e, f or example, i n Joseph Conr ad’s Heart of Darkness , might involve a pl icated 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 occupati ons and dail y manner of l iving of t he char acter 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 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 c e. 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 hemes 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 Mark Twai n’s Huckleber y Finn, Updike’s A amp。 P, and Faul kner ’s Bar n Burni ng concern the theme of “i ni ti at ion i nto m aturi ty.” Such gener al descri pt ions of theme can be usef ul