【正文】 ener 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 hem e of the novel or that Uncle Tom’s Cabi n and The Gr apes of Wr ath t reat the t hem es 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 it is in our discussion of Hemi ngway’s “A Cl ean, Wel Li ght ed Place.” I n thi s larger sense i t i s rel at ively easy to say t hat Mar k Twai n’s Huckl eber ry Fi nn, Updi ke’s A amp。 P, and Faulkner’s Barn Bur ning concer n the t hem e of “i nit iati on int o matur it y. ” Such general 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 ntends 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 re ader 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 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 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 a t 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 locat