【正文】 can be useful , especi al ly if we want t o sor t a lar ge num ber of stori es and novels i nto r ough categori es, but the f act that they ar e si mi lar in t hem e does not mean that they mean t he same t hing. The at ti tude t owar ds the t hem e may be very di f erent: the t one of tr eatm ent m ay be, for example, either ic or t ragic, str ai ght for ward or i roni c. The wr it er ’ s vi sion of li fe is t he special underl ying f act of a stor y, and a t heme, abst ractl y stated, is not the same thi ng as a vision of l if e. And we suggest anyway that, i n the beginning, you look f or what ever tr uth or i nsi ght you t hi nk the wr i t er of a stor y i nt ends t o r eveal. Try to st at e a theme in a sentence. By doing so, we wi l f ind our selves looking cl osely at t he st ory. Kennedy and Gi oia make a helpf ul suggesti on to consider the f oll owi ng point s when we thi nk about the t hem e of a st ory: Look back once mor e at the ti tl e of the stor y. What does it i ndi cat e in relat ion t o the whol e st ory? Does the m ain character in any way change in t he st ory? Does t hi s char act er ar ri ve at any event ual r eal izati on or understanding? Ar e you lef t wi t h any reali zat ion or under st andi ng aft er f ini shing readi ng the st or y? Does the author (t hrough t he nar rator ) make any general obser vat ions about li fe or human natur e? Do the character s make any ( Cauti on: Character s now and agai n wi l utt er opini ons wi t h which t he reader i s not necesari ly supposed to agr e. ) Does t he story contai n any especi al y cur ious objects, myst eri ous f lat char act ers, si gni fi cant animal s, r epeated names, speci al al lusi ons, or what ever , that hint towar ds m eani ngs l ar ger than such t hings ordinar il y have? I n li ter ar y stor ies, such sym bol s or metaphor s may point to cent ral themes. When we have worked our st at ement of t hem e, have we cast our st at ement i nto general language, not j ust given a pl ot summar y? Does our statement hol d t rue f or t he story as a whol e, not j ust par t of it ? Chapter Four Set ing “Once upon a time there li ved a ki ng named Midas i n Phrygia. He l oved gol d more than anyt hing else but his l it tl e daughter.” This i s the opening sent ences of “Golden Touch”, which i nt roduces t he ti me, place, and the usual m ent al it y of the char acter. What i s set ti ng? An event occur s and a char act er exi st s in a par ti cul ar t ime and pl ace. This part icular t ime and pl ace i s ref er red t o as set ti ng. A set ti ng is t he background agai nst whi ch a char act er i s depi cted or an event nar r at ed. I ts purpose is t o pr ovi de an imaginar y li nk bet ween what happens i n the novel and what t he r eader takes to be r eal it y. Li ke some ot her el em ent s, set ing i s not pecul iar to the novel . The reader f inds it serving the sam e purpose in di f er ent genres. The tr adi ti onal way to tel a st or y r eveals m uch about set ing. Usual ly, a set ti ng consists of t ime and pl ace. It can also mean cir cum st ances such as Midas’ s mentali ty. A set ing may be detai led or sket chy. It depends on t he noveli st ’s pur pose of wr it ing and his i dea of wor ks of ar t. A set ing m ay or may not be symboli c. General ly, a set ti ng is mor e concerned wi th the physi cal aspects. Set ti ng is cl osely related wi t h exposit ion i n that they both hel p to m ake possi ble t he events in t he novel. I n f act , an exposi ti on must have a set ti ng. But seti ng goes al ong wit h ever y event i n the novel wher eas exposi ti on is only the ini ti at ing acti on. 1. The element s making up a set t ing By the set ing of a st ory, we sim pl y mean i ts place and ti me, the physi cal , and someti mes spi ri tual, backgr ound agai nst whi ch the action of a nar rati ve takes place. Every a st ory as shor t as the one at the begi nning of the i ntr oducti on must be set in a cer tain pl ace and t im e: we have an “old, shut tered house” and t he present tense suggest s ti me ( though the pr esent t ense i ndi cat es much more than ti me i tself in the stor y). The elements m aki ng up a set ti ng ar e gener al y: ( 1) the actual geographical ocat ion, it s topogr aphy, scenery, and such physi cal ar angements as the locat ion of t he windows and doors i n a r oom 。 (3) the t im e or per iod i n which t he act ion t akes place, for exampl e, t he late ei ghteent h cent ury i n hist or y or wi nt er of t he year 。 his contemporar y Evelyn Waugh stated t hat t he West Af r ica of that book replaced the tr ue r em em ber ed West Af r ica of his own experi ence. Such power i s not unmon: the Yor kshi re m oor s have been r om ant icized because Emi ly Br onte wr ote of t hem in Wuthering Hei ght s, and li ter ar y t our ists have visit ed StokeonTr ent i n nort her n England because it pri ses t he “Five Towns” of Ar nol d Ben ’s novels of the earl y t went ieth centur y. Thus, a reader ’s r eact ion t o a place i s not mer el y based upon t he way it l ooks, but upon the potenti ali ti es of acti on suggest ed by it . Pl aces m att er greatl y to many writ ers. For instance, the Fr ench noveli st Bal zac, bef ore wr it ing a st ory set in a town, he would go and visi t hat t own, select a few lanes and houses, and descri bes t hem in det ai l, down t o t hei r ver y smel s. I n his view the pl ace i n which an event occurs was of equal moment wi th t he event it sel f, and it has a par t to pl ay. Another exampl e is Thomas Har dy, under whom the pr esentati on of set ti ng assumes an unusual i mport ance. His “Wessex” vi lages cast int angibl y such as spel l upon the vi l l ager s t hat once they leave their hometowns t hey wil l inevitabl y suf fer f rom disast er s, and t he fart her t hey ar e away f rom their hometowns, the