【正文】 , by r eason of the l ook of quiet ness and by reason of a num ber of pleasant associ ations we have wi th the kind of l if e li ved there, st ir s a cert ai n r eacti on in us whi ch we do not at ach t o any si ngle i nci dent or obj ect , but gener al y to the whole scene. I n the same way we may say that he set ti ng of a st ory contr ibut es t o defi ni ng it s atmospher e. For i nst ance, in “The Tel Tale Heart, ” Poe’ s set ti ng the acti on in an ol d, dar k, l ant ernl it house gr eat ly contr ibut es t o t he reader ’s sense of unease, and so helps t o build the stor y’s ef ect iveness. Anot her example i s Lawrence’ s “The Horse Deal er’ s Daught er, ” the descr ipti on at the beginning of which contr ibutes much t o t he at mospher e of t he story. 4. The import ance of at m osphere in creati ng the set ing But i t is a m istake to say t hat t he at mospher e of a piece of f ict ion depends on t he set ing al one. (As il lustr at ed in Shakespeare’s Ham let, t he di alogue at t he ver y beginning of t he pl ay hel ps power ful ly t o establi sh t he atmospher e of uncert ainty, in addi tion to t he set ti ng—the cold midnight cast le.) The vocabular y, t he fi gur es of speech, and the r hyt hm of t he sentence also help defi ne the gener al at m ospher e, f or by t hese f act or s t he wr i t er m anages t o cont r ol t he ki nd of associ at i ons t hat e t o t he r eader ’ s m i nd. At m osphere al so depends on char act er and act i on. I n shor t , we m ay say t hat t he at m ospher e of f i ct i on i s t he per vasi ve, gener al f eel i ng, gener at ed by a num ber of f act or s ( set t i ng, char act er , act i on, and st yl e) t hat i s opi ni on about, and statement of , the t hem e. Moral i nferences drawn f rom most st ories: Mor al infer ences may be drawn fr om m ost stori es, no doubt, even when an author does not i nt end his /her st ory t o be r ead t his way. In “A Clean, Wel Li ght ed Place”, we f eel t hat Hemi ngway is i ndi rectl y givi ng us advice f or proper ly regarding and sympathizi ng the l onel y, t he uncert ai n, and t he old. But obvi ously the stor y does not set f ort h a lesson that we are s upposed to put i nt o practi ce. We can say f or sur e that “A Clean, Wel Li ght ed Place” contai ns several themes and ot her st at ement s coul d be made t o take in Hemingway’s vi ew of love, of muni cat ion between peopl e, of digni ty. Great st ori es, li ke great symphonies, f requent ly have mor e than one t heme. When we say t hat t he ti tle of Pr ide and Pr ej udice conveys the t heme of t he novel or that Uncle Tom’ s Cabi n and The Gr apes of Wr ath t reat the t hemes of slaver y and m i gr at or y labor respect ively, this i s to use t hem e in a larger and more abstr act sense t han i t is i n our discussion of Hemi ngway’s “A Clean, Wel Li ght ed Place. ” In this larger sense it i s relat ively easy to say t hat Mar k Twain’ s Huckl eber ry Fi nn, Updi ke’ s A amp。 ( 2) the occupati ons and dail y manner of l ivi ng of t he char act er s。 (4) the general envi ronment of t he char act er s, f or exampl e, r eligi ous, mental, m or al, soci al , and em ot ional condit ions thr ough which char act ers i n the st or y move. (Hol man and Harman, A Handbook to lit erat ure, 1986) But oft en, in an ef fecti ve story, set ti ng m ay f i gur e as m ore t han mere backgr ound. I t can m ake t hings happen. I t can pr ompt char act er s to act , br ing t hem t o reali zat ions, or cause t hem to reveal t hei r innermost nat ures, as we shal se in John Cheever ’s shor t st ory “The Swi mmer ”. Fi rst, as we have sai d, t he i dea of set ing i ncludes the physical envi ronment of a story: a region, a landscape, a ci ty, a vil lage, a st reet, a house—a par ti cul ar pl ace or a seri es of pl aces where a st ory occurs. (Wher e a stor y takes place is someti mes cal led i ts l ocale.) Places i n f icti on not onl y provide a l ocat ion f or an act ion or an event of the stor y but al so pr ovoke f eel ings i n us. A si ght of a gr en f iel d dot ted wi t h fl utt er ing daf odil s af fects us ver y dif ferentl y f rom a sight of a di ngy aley, a tr opical j ungl e, or a smal l house cr owded wi th f urni ture. In addi ti on to a sense of beaut y or ugli ness, we usual y build up cer tain as soci ations when we put ourselves in such a scene. We ar e depr essed by a dingy al ey, not onl y because it is ugl y, but because i t may arouse a f eli ng, per haps som etim es unconsciously, of povert y, m isery, violence, vici ousnes, and t he str uggl es of human beings who have to l ive under such condi ti ons. A t ropical jungle, for exam ple, in Joseph Conr ad’ s Heart of Darknes, mi ght i nvol ve a pl icated analysis: the pleasur e of the colours and f orm s of vegetati on, t he di sf ort of humi di ty, heat , and i nsects, a sense of myst ery, hor ror , et c. The populari ty of Si r Walt er Scot t’s “Waver ley” novels is due in par t to t hei r evocati on of a romanti c mood of Scot land. The Engl ish novel ist Gr aham Greene appar ent ly needed t o visi t a fr esh scene i n or der t o wr ite a fr esh novel. Hi s abi li ty t o encapsulate t he esence of an exotic set ing i n a singl e book i s exem pl if ied i n The Heart of the M att er 。 she l oved t he place and was loved in t he place. The vale, far f rom the m adding cr owd of the ci vi li zed ci ty, was as serene and pure as t he inhabi tants. Tess, imbued deepl y wit h t he nat ur al hue of t he val e and bound cl osely t o t hi s wor ld of sim pl icit y and secl usi on, exper ienced her own deli ght and happi ness t hough her fami ly was poor. I t was, t o som e ext ent , her depar tur e f rom her nati ve place that led to her t ragedy. In The Return of the Nat ive, the atm osphere of Egdon Heat h pr evail s over t he whole boo