【正文】 t he sam e t hi ng as a vi si on of li fe. And we suggest anyway that , i n the beginni ng, you l ook for whatever tr ut h or i nsight you t hi nk t he wr it er of a st or y i nt ends to r eveal. Try t o st at e a t hem e in a sentence. By doing so, we wi l fi nd oursel ves looki ng closely at he st or y. Kennedy and Gi oi a m ake a helpf ul suggest ion t o consi der the foll owi ng poi nt s when we think about t he t hem e of a story: Look back once m or e at the ti le of t he st or y. What does it indi cat e i n relati on t o t he whole story? Does the m ai n charact er i n any way change i n the st or y? Does t hi s char act er ar ri ve at any event ual real izati on or underst anding? Ar e you l eft wi th any r eali zati on or under st andi ng aft er f inishi ng r eading the st or y? Does t he author (t hrough t he nar rator) make any gener al obser vati ons about li fe or human nature? Do the charact er s m ake any ( Cauti on: Charact er s now and agai n wi l utter opi ni ons wit h which t he reader i s not necessari ly supposed t o agr e.) Does the st or y contain any especi al ly cur ious obj ect s, m ysteri ous fl at charact er s, si gni fi cant anim al s, repeated names, speci al al lusi ons, or whatever, t hat hi nt towar ds m eani ngs larger t han such things or di naril y have? I n lit erary st ori es, such symbol s or metaphors may poi nt to centr al t hem es. When we have wor ked our statem ent of t hem e, have we cast our statem ent into general anguage, not just given a pl ot summ ar y? Does our statem ent hol d t rue f or the st or y as a whol e, not j ust part of i t? Chapt er Four Seti ng “Once upon a t i me t here l ived a king named M i das i n Phrygi a. He loved gol d more than anyt hi ng el se but his li tl e daught er. ” This i s t he openi ng sentences of “Gol den Touch”, whi ch i nt roduces t he tim e, place, and the usual ment al it y of t he charact er . What is set i ng? An event occur s and a charact er exi st s i n a par ticular t ime and pl ace. Thi s part icul ar tim e and place i s r efer ed t o as set ing. A seti ng i s the backgr ound agai nst whi ch a char acter i s depi ct ed or an event nar rated. It s pur pose i s t o pr ovi de an imagi nar y li nk bet wen what happens i n t he novel a nd what he r eader t akes t o be r eali ty. Li ke some other elem ent s, set ing is not pecul iar to t he novel. The r eader fi nds it ser vi ng t he same purpose in dif ferent genr es. The tr adit ional way t o tel l a st or y reveal s m uch about set ti ng. Usual ly, a set ti ng consist s of t ime and place. It can also m ean ci rcum st ances such as Mi das’s m ent ali ty. A seti ng m ay be det ail ed or sket chy. It depends on the noveli st ’s pur pose of wri ti ng and hi s i dea of wor ks of art . A set ing m ay or m ay not be symbol ic. Gener al ly, a set ti ng i s m or e concerned wi th t he physi cal aspects. Seti ng i s cl osel y related wit h exposi ti on i n that t hey bot h help t o m ake possi ble t he events i n t he novel. I n f act, an exposit on m ust have a set ti ng. But set ing goes al ong wit h ever y e vent i n t he novel whereas exposi ti on i s only t he i nit iati ng act ion. 1. The elem ent s m aki ng up a set ing By t he set i ng of a st ory, we sim pl y m ean it s pl ace and tim e, t he physical, and som et imes spiri t ual , background agai nst which t he acti on of a nar rati ve takes place. Every a st or y as hor t as the one at he begi nni ng of t he i nt roducti on m ust be set in a cert ai n pl ace and t ime: we have an “ol d, shut tered house” and t he present t ense suggest t ime (t hough t he pr esent tense indi cates m uch more t han tim e i tsel f i n the st or y) . The elem ents maki ng up a set ing ar e gener al ly: (1) t he act ual geogr aphical l ocat ion, it s topography, scener y, and such physi cal ar rangem ent s as t he l ocati on of t he wi ndows and doors i n a r oom。 she l oved t he pl ace and was l oved i n t he pl ace. The val e, far f r om t he m addi ng cr owd of t he ci vil ized cit y, was as ser ene and pur e as t he i nhabit ants. Tes, im bued deepl y wit h t he natural hue of t he val e and bound cl osel y to t hi s worl d of simpli ci ty and secl usi on, exper ienced her own deli ght and happi nes t hough her f ami ly was poor . It was, t o some ext ent, her depar t ur e f rom her nati ve place t hat l ed t o her t ragedy. I n The Ret urn of the Nat ive, t he atmospher e of Egdon Heat h pr evai ls over the whol e book。 ( 4) the gener al envir onment of t he char act ers, for exam pl e, reli gi ous, ment al , m or al, social, and em ot ional condi ti ons through which charact er s i n the st or y m ove. ( Hol man and Harm an, A Handbook to li terat ure, 1986) But of ten, i n an ef f ect i ve st or y, set ti ng may fi gure as m or e than m er e background. I t can m ake thi ngs happen. It can pr ompt char act ers t o act, bri ng t hem t o r eali zati ons, or cause t hem t o r eveal t hei r innerm ost natures, as we shal se i n John Cheever ’s short story “The Swimmer”. Fi rst, as we have sai d, the idea of set i ng i ncludes t he physical envi ronm ent of a story: a regi on, a landscape, a cit y, a vil age, a str et, a house—a par ti cular pl ace or a ser ies of places where a story occurs. ( Wher e a st or y t akes pl ace is sometim es cal led its l ocal e.) Pl aces i n fi ct ion not onl y pr ovide a l ocati on f or an acti on or an event of the st or y but al so pr ovoke f eli ngs i n us. A si ght of a gr en fi el d dott ed wit h fl ut eri ng daf fodi ls af ects us very dif ferent ly f rom asi ght of a di ngy al ley, a tr opical j ungl e, or a smal house crowded wit h fur nit ur e. I n addi ti on t o a sense of beauty or ugli ness, we usual y buil d up cert ai n associ at ions when we put oursel ves in such a scene. We ar e depr essed by a di ngy aley, not onl y because i t i s ugl y, but because i t m ay