【正文】 can be grouped as her oes, main cha racters and m inor char act er s, and f oils. The charact er on whom a novel i s cal led t he hero or heroine when it is a femal e character. The word ―hero‖ original y refers t o a man, in mythology and legend, often of divi ne ancest ry, who i s endowed wi th great courage and st rength, cel ebr ated f or hi s hold exploit s, and f avor ed by the gods. In the novel , the word “hero” i s freed of such nobl e requi rement s and any cent ral charact ers can be l abel ed as heroes. Jonat han Wil d is the hero i n t he novel of t he sam e nam e by Henry Fi elding, though he is a not or i ous hi ghwayman. Some cri ti cs, annoyed by the connotation of “hero, ” prefer the word “protagonist, ” whi ch sounds neutral. The enem y or ri val of the protagoni st i s cal led ―antagonist.‖ The mai n or maj or characters are t hose in cl ose and dynami c rel ati on wit h t he hero or heroine. Close rel ati on does not m ean good relat ion. Pabl o in For Whom t he Bel Toll s is const ant ly f indi ng tr oubl e wit h t he her o Jor dan, yet he is a mai n char act er as hi s wif e Pi lar is. Mi nor characters a r e those in remote and st at ic r elati on wi th t he her o. I t is wr ong t o thi nk that minor char act er s are al l uni mport ant . In some novels, one or some of the m inor char act er s may serve a cr it ical r ole, st ruct ur al y or inter pretati onal ly. Foil characters are ones t hat hel p enhance t he int ensi ty of t he hero by st rengt heni ng or cont rasti ng. They m ay be mai n characters or mi nor charact ers. In a wor d, t hey serve as f oil s to t he her o or heroine. Cohn in The Sun Al so Ri ses is a good example. He i s one of t he main characters. Li ke Jake, he i s also ―lost, ‖ trying vainl y to escape t he past by courti ng women and dri nking. But duri ng t hei r st ay i n Spai n, Cohn di spl ays qual i t i es i n cont r ast t o t hose cher i shed by Jake, whi ch m akes Jake r eal i ze hi s own pr obl em s and f i nal l y f i n d a sol ut i on, t hough t em por ar i l y. Cohn wor ks m ai nl y by cont r ast . Wi l son i n The Gr eat Gat sby wor ks by pr esent i ng. Gat sby l ost hi s l over t o Tom and Wi l son l ost hi s wi fe t o Tom . By present i ng Wi l son‘s I nt r oduct i on I. Why do we have such course? Engl ish l it er atur e is one of the pulsory and m ost i mpor t ant cour ses. However , the Engli sh li terat ur e cour ses of fer ed ar e mer el y t aught at t he level of l ear ning gener al i nfor mati on and developing l it eral underst anding. Admi t edl y, such cour ses help t hem/you a l ot i n t hei r/ your acqui si ti on of the Engli sh language. But t he functi on of Engl ish li ter at ure r eaches far beyond t hat . In readi ng Engli sh l it eratur e, a st udent should have t he power t o discer n how human beings t ransl ate t hei r experi ence i nto ar tist ic expressi on and represent at ion。 and how soci al concer n i s involved in a specif ic f orm of human imagi nat ion. In addit ion, st udent s should el evate to t he level of cult ivati ng a curi osit y f or the unknown, thi nki ng cogentl y and logi cal ly, expressing t hemselves clearl y and concisely, and observing t he wor ld ar ound t hem cri ti cal ly and objecti vel y. But most st udent s ar e sti l at a loss as to how they can ef fecti vel y anal yze a l i t er ary wor k by t hem selves i n any of t hese r espects, even t hough t hey have r ead pl ent y of excerpt s fr om r epr esentat ive wor ks i n t he Bri ti sh and Am eri can l it er ary canon. And they tend t o have l it tl e idea what rol e the beginning part pl ays i n the whol e st ory, how t he pl ot develops and es t o r esolut ion, in what way point of view det er mi nes a r eader ‘s under standi ng of the stor y, and how t he im ages and sym bol s are r elated t o the t heme. Upon consi derati on of these f act ors, we have such course wi th t he int ent ion of culti vat ing bot h student s‘ l it er ary sensi bil it es and their /your cri ti cal power when readi ng Engli sh short stor ies and novel s. II. Introduct ion about readi ng a story 1. What is St ory? ―Yes –oh, dear , yes—t he novel tel ls a stor y.‖ This i s Forster ‘s r emark, which i s wort h speci al at ent ion, for he i s someone i n the t rade and wit h r ich exper ience. I n his Aspect s of the Novel he li st s ―st ory‖ as the f ir st aspect . People r eadi ng novels for stori es usual y ask questi ons l ike ―what happened next?‖ and ―and‖ what would he do next?‖ These questi ons at test t o t he t wo basi c el ements of a stor y. The one is the event and the ot her t he tim e. A st ory is a seri es of happeni ngs ar ranged i n t he nat ural temporal order as they occur . St ory i s the basis of the novel, and indeed the basi s of nar rat ive wor ks of al l ki nds. 2. The str ucture and f unct ions of a story Plot。 point of view。 style 3. What i s Ficti on? Ficti on, t he general ter m f or invent ed stori es, now usual ly appli ed to novels, shor t st ori es, novel a, r omances, fables, and ot her nar ati ve works in prose, even though most pl ays and nar ati ve poems ar e al so fi cti onal. ( P. 83. Conci se Dicti onar y of Lit erar y Ter ms) 4. The St ory and t he Novel To r ead novels f or st ory is nothing wrong, but nothi ng professi onal eit her . ―One mark of a second rate mind i s to be al ways tel ing st or ies.‖ The r emark by the French wr it er j ean de La Bruyere (1645~1696) is also t rue of t he reader . I f the pur pose of the novel i s only t o t el l st ori es, it could as wel r emain unborn, f or newspapers and hi st ory books are suff icient to sati sfy people‘s desir e for stor ies about both pr esent and past, and even about f ut ur e. In fact, many newapaperm en have been dissati sfi ed wit h their j ob of report ing and e i nt o t he fi el d of novel wr it ing. Def