【正文】 the novel. Theme may be t he most democrat ic element s in l it er atur e, because it s def ini ti on is t he least r est ri ct ive. The theme of a novel i s it s cont roll ing i dea or i ts centr al i nsi ght . Being an i dea or an i nsi ght , t he theme should be abst r act and it shoul d gener al ize about l if e. Labeled as cont rol li ng or centr al, the t hem e should be capabl e of unif yi ng the whol e novel . So t he theme of a stor y, t hen, i s what ever gener al i dea or i nsi ght t he ent ir e stor y reveal s. I I. Cl ar if icati on about Theme Comm on as it is, theme suff ers some mi sunderstandings. One misconcepti on about theme i s that each novel has a t heme or t hem es, or theme i s impor tant to al l novels. In f act , som e novels, int er est ing ones though, do not provide any i nsi ght i nt o l if e. For exam pl e, many novels of r at iocinati on and novels of hor ror. These novels ar e aimed at ent ert ai ning t he reader , not at impr oving his understanding of l if e. They may som et i m es touch upon t he human nat ure or soci al pr oblems, but t hese issues ar e onl y used to push the pl ot f orwar d and they are not menti oned for their own val ue. Theme exists only in t he novel that ser iously at tempts t o r ef lect li fe f ait hfull y or int ends t o reveal t rut h about li fe, or in the novel s that ar e based on i deas or t heori es of lif e. (f or exa mple, novel s of ideas) . Anot her mi sconcept ion about t hem e is t hat t he theme i s lar gel y what he novel i s. Some peopl e discar d t he novel when they thi nk that they have got t he theme. It shoul d be made clear t hat he novel is not wr it ten t o convey an i dea but to convey an idea art isti cal ly. The novel is a wor k of art wher eas t he theme i s onl y an abst ract idea. An analogy f rom dai ly li fe m ay hel p clari fy this question. Peopl e al need vi tami ns and get them fr om vari ous kinds of vegetables and fr uit s. Onl y those wit h defi ciency of one kind or another have t o t ake vi tamin pil ls to get t he requir ed am ount . The di f erence bet ween the theme and t he novel is much like t hat between t he vit amins and the veget abl es. The r eader somet imes f inds that t he t hem e of a novel is si mil ar to or even the same as what he has alr eady known about l if e and that he is sti l f ascinated by t he novel . Theme appeal s sol ely t o the i ntel ect ual l evel of reading whi le t he novel as a whole m ai nly appeal s to t he emoti onal level. Another pit fal concer ning t he theme is to confuse a theme wi t h mor al or lesson. Usual ly, a mor al or a l esson is t he advi ce st at ed or impl ied i n a parable or f abl e. I t is somethi ng of a rul e by which one can regulate hi s behavior . For example , “Be kind t o your neighbors,” or “Honest y is t he best poli cy.” But a theme i s more pl icated than t his as a novel i s to enhance one’s awarenes of l if e r at her t han si mply t o t el l him how t o behave. A novel is a pl icated mat ter and di f erent reader s may have dif ferent int er pret at ions of the same novel , so i t is i ncor rec t to pr esume t hat one novel has only one t heme. I n som e cases, t her e are sever al subthemes to the mai n theme. In reali ty, some novels ar e appr eci at ed for t hei r themati c am biguit y. For exam pl e, Moby Dick can be i nt erpr et ed in more ways t han one. Final y, t he theme i s not t o be confused wit h t he su bject. The theme is an i dea whi le t he subj ect is a mat er or an af air . “Love is invincible” m ay be a theme, but “l(fā)ove” is onl y a subj ect . A subj ect may be uni ver sal . The subjects of The Scarl et Let er, The Great Gatsby, and Women i n Love are al l “l(fā) ove. ” But these novels have dif ferent themes. A theme i s par ti cul ar to i ts novel, though ther e ar e many sim il ar t hem es t o be f ound i n other novel s. I I . Five Requir em ent s for Stat ing a Theme The stat em ent of a t heme may be bri ef or l ong. And t her e are di f er ent ways t o expr es one and t he same t hem e. But i t should m et the f oll owing r equi rements. A t heme m ust be expressed in t he form of a stat em ent wi t h a subject and a predi cat e. For exam ple, “Love of one’ s count ry of ten i nspi res her oic self sacri fi ce.” If a t hem e is expressed i n t he f orm of a phrase, t hen the phrase must be conver ti ble t o sent ence f orm. One can say that the t hem e of a novel is “f ut il it y of envy.” The phr ase can be changed to “envy is futi le.” When one chooses to stat e a theme i n t he phr ase f orm , he must be very caref ul about i t s converti bil it y t o sent ence f orm . For inst ance , t he phr ase “sel fl es m at er nal l ove” does not al ways m ean t hat “m at er nal l ove is self less. ” The t hem e is generali zati on about l if e based on the novel , and t he st atement of t hem e shoul d be true al so of ot her people or l if e sit uat i ons. Ther efor e, nam es of char act er s and pl aces shoul d not be m ent i oned, f or they suggest speci fi c t hi ngs and i nvi t e l im it at i ons. So in t hem at i c di scussi on of Wut heri ng H ei ghts, one m ay menti on “people’s psychol ogy of r evenge, ” but not “Heathcli f ’s.” Though a t heme i s a generali zati on, over general i zat ion should be avoi ded. Si nce a t hem e is extr act ed fr om a par ti cul ar novel ( a part icular event ), it m ay not be appl i cable t o al sit uat i ons. So words li ke “al ways, ” “never, ” “al l, ” and “ever y” shoul d be avoi ded. I nst ead, one shoul d use wor ds li ke “some,” “som etim es, ” and “m ay. ” When m aki ng a gener al izat i on, one shoul d st ri ct l y keep t o what is actual y i n the novel and not sm uggl e int o it asumpti ons s uppli ed fr om hi s past experi ence. Si nce t hem e is t he cent ral and uni f yi ng i dea of