【正文】 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 aut hor 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 properl y regarding and sympathi zi 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 supposed to put i nt o pr acti ce. We can say f or sur e that “A Clean, Wel Li ght ed Place” contai ns several themes and other st at ement s coul d be made t o take in Hemingway’s vi ew of love, of m uni cat ion between peopl e, of digni ty. Great st ori es, li ke great symphonies, f requent ly have mor e t han one t heme. When we say t hat t he ti tle of Pr ide and Pr ej udice conveys the t heme of the novel or that Uncle Tom’ s Cabi n and The Gr apes of Wr ath t reat the t hemes of slavery and mi grat or y l abor r espect ively, thi s is t o use t heme in a lar ge r and mor e abstr act sense t han i t i s in our di scussion of Hem ingway’s “A Cl ean, Wel l Lighted Pl ace.” I n t his l ar ger sense i t is r elati vel y easy t o say that Mark Twai n’s Huckleber y Finn, Updike’s A amp。 P, and Faul kner ’s Bar n Bur ni ng concern the t heme of “i ni ti at ion into maturi ty.” Such general descri ptions of theme can be usef ul, especial y i f we want to sort a l arge number of st or ies and novel s int o rough categor ies, but t he fact that hey are sim il ar i n theme does not mean that hey mean the same thi ng. The at it ude towards t he theme may be ver y dif fer ent : the tone of t reatment may be, f or exampl e, ei ther i c or tr agi c, st raightf orwar d or ir onic. The wri ter ’s visi on of l if e i s the speci al under lyi ng fact of a st ory, and a theme, abstr act ly st at ed, i s not t he same thing as a vi si on of li fe. And we suggest anyway t hat , in t he begi nni ng, you l ook for whatever t rut h or insight you think the wr it er of a stor y i nt ends t o r eveal. Try to stat e a theme i n a sentence. By doing so, we wi l f ind ourselves looking cl osely at t he st ory. Kennedy and Gi oi a make a helpf ul suggesti on t o consi der the f oll owi ng point s when we thi nk about the t hem e of a story: 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 t he 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 shi ng 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 t he character s make any (Cauti on: Character s now and agai n wi l utt er opini ons wit h which t he reader i s not necesari ly supposed to agr ee. ) Does t he story cont ai n any especial y cur ious objects, mysteri ous f l at char act ers, si gni f icant animal s, r epeated names, speci al al lusions, or whatever , that hint towar ds meanings l ar ger t han such t hings ordinar ily have? I n li ter ar y stor ies, such symbol s or metaphor s may point to centr al themes. When we have wor ked our st at ement of t heme, have we cast our st at ement i nto general language, not j ust given a plot sum m ar y? Does our st atement hol d tr ue for t he st ory as a whol e, not just par t of i t? Chapt er Four Set ing “Once upon a t ime there l ived a king named M idas in Phrygia. He l oved gold more t han anyt hing else but hi s li t le daughter. ” This i s the openi ng sent ences of “Gol den Touch”, whi ch int roduces t he ti me, pl ace, and the usual mental ity of the char act er. What is set i ng? An event occur s and a char act er exists i n a part icular t ime and pl ace. This part icular ti me and place is r efer red t o as set ting. A set ing is t he background agai nst whi ch a char acter i s depi ct ed or an event nar rated. It s purpose is t o provide an i maginary link bet ween what happens i n the novel a nd what the r eader takes to be r eal it y. Li ke som e other el ement s, set ing i s not pecul iar 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 m uch about set ting. 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. 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 ting may or may not be symboli c. General ly, a set ti ng is m or e concer ned wi th the physi cal aspects. Set ti ng is cl osely relat ed wit h exposit ion i n that they both hel p to make possible t he event s in t he novel. I n f act , an exposi ti on must have a seti ng. But set ing goes al ong wit h ever y event i n the novel wher eas exposi ti on is only the i ni ti at ing acti on. 1. The elem ent s making up a set ing By the set ing of a st ory, we sim ply m ean i ts pl ace and ti me, the physi cal , and someti mes spi ri tual, backgr ound against which t he act ion of a nar ative t akes pl ace. Ever y a stor y as shor t as t he one at t he beginni ng of t he int roduct ion must be set i n a cert ain pl ace and ti me: we have an “ol d, shutt er ed house” and the pr esent tense suggests t im e (t hough t he present t ense indicates m uch m or e t han t ime it sel f in t he st ory) . The el ement s making up a set ing ar e general ly: (1) t he act ual geogr aphi cal l ocati on, i ts t opogr aphy, scener y, and such physical ar rangements as t he l ocat ion of t he wi nd