【正文】 s understanding of l ife. They may somet imes t ouch upon the human nature or social problems, but these issues ar e only used to push t he plot forward and t hey are not ment ioned for thei r own value. Theme exists only in t he novel that seri ously atempts to r ef lect li fe f ai thfully or intends to r eveal tr ut h about l ife, or in t he novels t hat ar e based on ideas or theor ies of li fe. ( for exa mpl e, novels of i deas). Anot her misconcept ion about t heme is that he t heme is largely what the novel i s. Some peopl e di scard the novel when t hey think t hat hey have got the theme. It shoul d be made cl ear that the novel i s not wr it ten to convey an idea but t o convey an i dea arti st ical ly. The novel is a work of ar t wher eas the theme is only an abstr act idea. An anal ogy fr om dail y li fe may help clari fy this question. People al need vitamins and get them f rom var ious kinds of veget ables and f ruits. Onl y those with defi ci ency of one kind or anot her have t o take vit ami n pi l s t o get the requir ed amount. The di ference bet wen the theme and the novel is much like that betwen the vitamins and t he vegetabl es. The reader somet imes finds that the theme of anovel is simi lar t o or even the same as what he has alr eady known about lif e and that he is stil l fascinat ed by the novel . Theme appeals solely t o the intelectual level of r eading whi le the novel as a whole mainly appeal s to the emot ional level. Another pi tfal concer ni ng t he t heme is to conf us e atheme wi th moral or leson. Usualy, a mor al or a l esson i s t he advi ce stated or impli ed i n a parable or f abl e. It is something of a r ule by which one can regulate his behavi or . For example , “Be kind to your nei ghbor s, ” or “Honesty i s t he best pol icy. ” But a theme i s mor e pl icat ed t han this as a novel is t o enhance one’s awar enes of l if e rather than sim pl y to tel him how to behave. A novel i s a pl icat ed mat er and dif ferent r eader s may have dif er ent interpretati ons of t he same novel, so i t i s incorr ect to presume that one novel has onl y one theme. In some cases, there are sever al subthemes to t he main t heme. I n real ity, some novel s ar e appreci at ed f or their themati c ambiguity. For exampl e, Moby Di ck can be i nt er pr et ed i n mor e ways than one. Final ly, t he t heme is not t o be conf used wi th the subject . The them e i s an i dea whi le the subject i s a mat er or an af ai r. “Love i s i nvi ncible” may be a theme, but “l(fā) ove” is onl y a subj ect. A subject may be univer sal. The subj ects of The Scarl et Leter, The Great Gatsby, and Women in Love ar e al “l(fā)ove.” But these novel s have dif ferent t hemes. A theme i s part icul ar to i ts novel, though ther e ar e many si mil ar themes t o be f ound in other novels. I I. Five Requirement s for St at ing a Theme The st at ement of a theme may be br ief or long. And t here are dif ferent ways t o expres one and the same theme. But it shoul d met the foll owi ng r equirement s. A theme must be expresed in the f orm of a st at ement with a subj ect and a predicate. For example, “Love of one’s countr y of ten inspir es her oi c self sacri fice.” If a theme is expresed i n the form of a phr ase, t hen the phr ase must be conver ti bl e to sentence form. One can say that he t heme of a novel i s “f ut il ity of envy. ” The phr ase can be changed t o “envy is f ut il e.” When one chooses to state atheme i n the phr ase form, he must be ver y careful about it s convert ibili ty to sent ence f or m. For inst ance ,the phr ase “sel fl ess mater nal ove” does not always mean that “mat er nal love i s self ess. ” The t heme is general izat ion about l if e based on the novel, and t he statement of theme should be t rue also of other people or li fe si tuations. Ther ef or e, names of characters and places shoul d not be mentioned, for they suggest specif ic things and invite l imit at ions. So i n themati c di scussi on of Wuthering Heights, one may ment ion “people’s psychology of revenge, ” but not “Heat hcli f ’s.” Though a theme i s a general izat ion, overgenerali zat ion shoul d be avoi ded. Si nce atheme i s extr acted fr om a part icul ar novel ( a part icul ar event) , i t may not be appl icable t o al l sit uati ons. So words like “always,” “never,” “al l,” and “ever y” should be avoided. I nstead, one should use words li ke “some,” “somet imes,” and “m ay. ” When making a gener al izat ion, one should str ict ly keep to what i s actual ly i n the novel and not smuggle into i t assumpt ions suppli ed f rom his past experi ence. Since t heme i s t he cent ral and unif yi ng i dea of the novel , i t must account f or all t he maj or det ails and must not be contradicted by an detail s in t he novel. Since a t heme is dif ferent from a moral or a lesson, one should avoid reduci ng a t heme t o a cl ich233。troubl e wit h the hero Jordan, yet he i s a main char acter as his wif e Pi lar is. Mi nor charact er s ar e t hose in remote and static r el at ion wit h the hero. It is wrong to think that mi nor charact er s ar e al l unimpor tant . I n some novels, one or some of the minor character s may serve a cr it cal role, str uctural y or int er pr et at ional y. Foi l charact ers are ones that help enhance t he i nt ensit y of the hero by st rengt hening or cont rast ing. They m ay be main characters or minor characters. I n a wor d, t hey serve as f oils t o the hero or heroine. Cohn in The Sun Also Ri ses is a good exampl e. He is one of the mai n charact ers. Like Jake, he i s al so “l(fā)ost ,” tryi ng vainly to escape t he past by cour ting women and dr inki ng. But dur ing their st ay i n Spain, Cohn di splays quali ti es in cont rast to t hose cher ished by Jake, whi ch makes Jake real ize hi s own problems and finaly f ind a soluti on, though tempor ar ily. Cohn w