【正文】 descr ipti ons of t hem e can be useful , especi al ly if we want to sor t a lar ge number of st ori es and novels i nt o r ough categori es, but the f act that they are 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 er ent: the t one of t r eatm ent may be, for example, ei ther ic or t ragic, st r ai ght for ward or i ronic. The wr it er ’s vi sion of li fe is t he speci al 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, in the beginning, you look f or what ever tr uth or i nsi ght you t hi nk the wr i ter of a st ory i nte nds to r eveal. Tr y t o st ate a t hem e in a sentence. By doi ng so, we wil l fi nd our sel ves l ooki ng closel y at the stor y. Kennedy and Gi oia make a hel pful suggest ion t o consi der t he foll owing poi nt s when we t hink about t he theme of a stor y: Look back once more at the t it le of t he st ory. What does i t indicate i n rel at ion t o t he whol e stor y? Does t he main character i n any way change in the stor y? 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 wit h any reali zat ion or under st andi ng aft er f ini shi ng reading t he st or y? Does the author ( through t he nar rator ) make any general obser vat ions about li fe or human natur e? Do t he character s make any (Cauti on: Char acter s now and agai n wi l utt er opi ni ons wit h which t he reader i s not necesari ly supposed to agr ee. ) Does the story cont ai n any especial y curi ous objects, mysteri ous fl at characters, si gnif icant anim al s, r epeated names, speci al al lusions, or whatever, 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 whole, not j ust par t of it ? Chapter Four Set i ng “Once upon a time there li ved a ki ng named Mi das i n Phrygia. He loved gol d more than anyt hing el se but his l it tl e daughter.” This is the opening sent ences of “Golden Touch”, which i nt roduces t he ti me, place, and the usual m ent al i t y of t he char act er . What i s set ti ng? An event occur s and a char act er exists in a par ticular t ime and pl ace. This part icular ti me and place is refer red t o as set ti ng. A set i ng is t he background agai nst whi ch a char act er i s depi ct ed or an event nar rat ed. It s purpose is t o provide an i maginary li nk bet ween what happens i n the novel and what the r eader takes to be r eal it y. Li ke s om e other el ement s, set ing i s not peculiar 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 much 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 hi s 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 wit h the physical aspects. Set ing i s cl osel y rel at 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 wi th 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 ement s maki ng up a set ing By the set t i ng of a story, we simpl y mean it s place and ti me, the physi cal , and someti mes spi ri tual, backgr ound against whi ch the acti on of a nar rat ive t akes place. Every a story as short as the one at the beginning of t he intr oduct ion m ust be set i n a cer t ai n place and ti me: we have an “old, shut ter ed house” and the present t ense suggests t ime (t hough t he pr esent tense indicates much mor e than t ime it self i n t he st or y). The elements maki ng up a seti ng are general y: (1) the actual geogr aphical location, it s topography, scener y, and such physical ar rangem ent s as the locati on of the wi ndows and doors i n a r oom。 (3) t he ti me or per iod in whi ch the acti on takes pl ace, for example, the l at e eighteenth century in hi st ory or wi nter of the year。 hi s cont emporary Evel yn Waugh stated t hat t he West Af ri ca of that book r epl aced t he tr ue remember ed West Af ri ca of hi s own exper ience. Such power is not unm on: t he Yor kshi re m oor s have been r om ant icized because Emi ly Br onte wr ote of t hem i n Wuthering Hei ght s, and li ter ar y t our ists have visi ted 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 iet h cent ur y. Thus, a reader ’s react ion t o a place i s not mer ely based upon t he way it l ooks, but upon the potent iali ti es of acti on suggest ed by it . Places matt er greatl y t o many wri ters. For instance, t he Fr ench noveli st Bal zac, bef ore wr i ting a st ory set i n a t own, he woul d go and visit t hat town, select a few l anes and houses, and descr ibes them in detai l, down to their ve ry sm el ls. In hi s view t he place in which an event occur s was of equal moment wit h the event i tself , and i t has a par t to pl ay. Another exampl e is Thomas Hardy, under whom the present ati on of set ing assumes an unusual im por tance. Hi s “Wesex” vil lages cast i ntangibly such as spel l upon t he vil ager s that once t hey leave their hometowns t hey wi l l i nevi tably suff er fr om di sasters, and the f art her t hey ar e away fr om t h