【正文】 t ion ( language) fal i n t he gener al category of st yl e, and spect acl e is r elevant t o set ti ng in our discussion of f icti on. The ot her t hree aspects ar e mythos or plot, ethos or char act er, and di anoi a, whi ch we gener al y tr ansl at e int o “thought ” in Engl ish. Accor di ng to Ari st otl e, plot i s the “soul ” or shaping pr inciple or f ict ion, and characters exi st pr imar ily as funct ions of the pl ot. In most of t he st or i es, plot plays the r ole of pri nci pal str ucture of t he st ory. But, as Nort hrop Fr ye points out, besides the i nt ernal fi ct ion of t he character and his/her soci et y, t her e i s an ext er nal f ict ion consi st ing of a r elati on bet ween the wr it er and t he wr it er ’s society. We i ndeed have li ter ar y wor ks by the l ikes of Shakespeare and Homer i n which ar ti st ry i s pletel y absorbed i n their i nternal char act er s and we can hardly per cei ve the existence of the author. However, as soon as t he aut hor ’s per sonalit y appear s on the hori zon, a r elati on wit h t he reader i s est abl ished, and som et imes t her e sems no st ory at al apar t fr om what t he aut hor i s conveying t o his/her reader . In this case, t he pr i m ar y inter est in dianoi a, t he idea or thought t hat r eader get s f rom the wr it er, which i n modern cr it icism we gener al y cal l “t hem e”. I. What Is Them e? One of the safest ment s to m ake about novels i s on the t hem e. Everyone is ent itl ed to ext ract a theme based upon his understanding of t he novel. Theme may be t he most democr at ic el em ent s in l it eratur e, because it s defi ni ti on is t he least r est ri ct ive. The theme of a novel i s it s cont rol li ng idea or it s centr al insi ght. Being an i dea or an i nsi ght , the t heme should be abstr act and it shoul d gener al ize about l if e. Labeled as cont rol li ng or centr al, the t hem e shoul d be capable of unif ying t he whol e novel . So the t heme of a st or y, then, i s whatever gener al idea or insight the enti re stor y r eveals. I I. Cl ari fi cat ion about Theme Com mon as it i s, theme suff ers some m isunder st andi ngs. One mi sconcepti on about theme i s that each novel has a t hem e or themes, or theme i s im por tant to al l novels. In fact, som e novel s, int erest ing ones though, do not provi de any i nsi ght i nto l if e. For exam pl e, m any novels of r at iocinati on and novel s of hor ror. These novels ar e aimed at entert aining t he reader , not at im pr oving hi s underst anding of l if e. They may someti mes touch upon the human natur e or social problems, but these i sues ar e only used t o push t he plot for ward and t hey ar e not ment ioned f or t hei r own value. Theme exi st s onl y i n the novel t hat seri ousl y atem pt s to refl ect l if e fai thful ly or i ntends to r eveal tr uth about l if e, or i n the novels t hat are based on ideas or t heor ies of li fe. ( for exam pl e, novels of ideas). Another misconcepti on about theme i s that the t hem e is l ar gely what the novel i s. Some people di scard the novel when t hey t hink t hat t hey have got the t heme. It should be m ade clear that the novel i s not wr i t en to convey an idea but t o convey an i dea a r ti st ical y. The novel i s a wor k of ar t whereas the t heme is only an abstr act i dea. An anal ogy fr om dail y l if e may help cl ar if y t hi s questi on. People al l need vit amins and get hem f rom var ious kinds of veget abl es and f rui ts. Only t hose wi th def iciency of one ki nd or anot her have to take vit am in pi l s to get the r equi red amount. The dif fer ence between t he theme and the novel i s much l ike t hat between the vi tami ns and t he vegetables. The reader someti mes fi nds that he theme of a novel i s simi lar to or even t he same as what he has al ready known about li fe and t hat he i s st il l fasci nat ed by the novel. Them e appeals solely to t he int el lectual level of r eadi ng whil e the novel as a whol e mainl y appeals t o the emot ional evel . Anot her pi tf al l concerning t he theme i s to conf use a t hem e wi th m or al or l eson. Usual y, a m oral or a lesson i s the advice stated or i mpli ed in a par abl e or fable. It i s som et hing of a r ul e by whi ch one can r egul at e his behavi or. For exampl e, “Be kind to your nei ghbor s, ” or “Honesty i s the best pol icy.” But a t heme is mor e pli cated t han thi s as a novel is t o enhance one’ s awar eness of li fe r ather than simpl y to tel him how t o behave. A novel i s a pli cat ed mat er and dif fer ent r eaders m ay have di f er ent i nterpr etati ons of t he same novel, so it i s incorr ect t o pr esum e t hat one novel has onl y one theme. In some cases, there ar e several subt hem es to t he main t hem e. I n r eal it y, some novel s are appreciated f or their t hem at ic ambi gui ty. For example, Moby Di ck can be inter preted i n mor e ways than one. Fi nal ly, the t heme is not to be confused wi th t he subject. The t hem e is an i dea whi le the subj ect i s a mat er or an af fair . “Love i s invincibl e” m ay be a theme, but “l(fā) ove” i s onl y a subject . A subject m ay be uni ver sal . The subjects of The Scarl et Let ter, The Great Gatsby, and Wom en in Love are al l “l(fā) ove. ” But these novels have dif fer ent themes. A theme i s part icular to its novel, t hough t her e are m any si mil ar t hem es to be f ound in ot her novel s. I I . Five Requir em ent s for St at ing a Theme The st at ement of a t hem e may be bri ef or l ong. And t her e are di f erent ways to express one and t he same theme. But i t should meet t he foll owing requi rem ent s. A theme m ust be expressed in t he f orm of a stat em ent wi t h a subject and a predi cat e. For example, “Love of one’s count ry of ten i nspi res her oi c self sacri fi ce.