1、trouble with the hero Jordan, yet he is a main character as his wife Pilar is. Minor characters are those in remote and static relation with the hero. It is wrong to think that minor characters are all unimportant. In some novels, one or some of the minor characters may serve a critical role, struct
2、urally or interpretationally.Foil characters are ones that help enhance the intensity of the hero by strengthening or contrasting. They may be main characters or minor characters. In a word, they serve as foils to the hero or heroine. Cohn in The Sun Also Rises is a good example. He is one of the ma
3、in characters. Like Jake, he is also “lost,” trying vainly to escape the past by courting women and drinking. But during their stay in Spain, Cohn displays qualities in contrast to those cherished by Jake, which makes Jake realize his own problems and finally find a solution, though temporarily. Coh
4、n works mainly by contrast. Wilson in The Great Gatsby works by presenting. Gatsby lost his lover to Tom and Wilson lost his wife to Tom. By presenting Wilsons case the novelist intends to point out the profound cause of Gatsbys tragedy. Dr. Watson in the stories of Sherlock Holmes serves as a foil
5、to the hero, rendering the detective smarter than he would otherwise appear to the reader.By the degree of their development, characters can be grouped as round characters and flat characters. This division is proposed by E.M Forster. Round characters are fully developed while flat characters are no
6、t. Or we can say that round characters grow while flat characters do not. Usually the reader is allowed access to the inner life of the round character and permitted to learn about many sides of the round character. The flat character is a “closed” character to whose inner thoughts the reader is den
7、ied access. Usually one side of the flat character is shown in the novel. Most heroes are round characters who grow emotionally or spiritually.Chapter Three ThemeAristotle in Poetics lists six basic elements of tragedy. Melody (song) and diction (language) fall in the general category of style, and
8、spectacle is relevant to setting in our discussion of fiction. The other three aspects are mythos or plot, ethos or character, and dianoia, which we generally translate into “thought” in English. According to Aristotle, plot is the “soul” or shaping principle or fiction, and characters exist primari
9、ly as functions of the plot. In most of the stories, plot plays the role of principal structure of the story. But, as Northrop Frye points out, besides the internal fiction of the character and his/her society, there is an external fiction consisting of a relation between the writer and the writers
10、society. We indeed have literary works by the likes of Shakespeare and Homer in which artistry is completely absorbed in their internal characters and we can hardly perceive the existence of the author. However, as soon as the authors personality appears on the horizon, a relation with the reader is
11、 established, and sometimes there seems no story at all apart from what the author is conveying to his/her reader. In this case, the primary interest in dianoia, the idea or thought that reader gets from the writer, which in modern criticism we generally call “theme”.I. What Is Theme?One of the safe
12、st comments to make about novels is on the theme. Everyone is entitled to extract a theme based upon his understanding of the novel. Theme may be the most democratic elements in literature, because its definition is the least restrictive. The theme of a novel is its controlling idea or its central i
13、nsight. Being an idea or an insight, the theme should be abstract and it should generalize about life. Labeled as controlling or central, the theme should be capable of unifying the whole novel. So the theme of a story, then, is whatever general idea or insight the entire story reveals. II. Clarific
14、ation about ThemeCommon as it is, theme suffers some misunderstandings. One misconception about theme is that each novel has a theme or themes, or theme is important to all novels. In fact, some novels, interesting ones though, do not provide any insight into life. For example, many novels of ratioc
15、ination and novels of horror. These novels are aimed at entertaining the reader, not at improving his understanding of life. They may sometimes touch upon the human nature or social problems, but these issues are only used to push the plot forward and they are not mentioned for their own value. Them
16、e exists only in the novel that seriously attempts to reflect life faithfully or intends to reveal truth about life, or in the novels that are based on ideas or theories of life. (for example, novels of ideas).Another misconception about theme is that the theme is largely what the novel is. Some peo
17、ple discard the novel when they think that they have got the theme. It should be made clear that the novel is not written to convey an idea but to convey an idea artistically. The novel is a work of art whereas the theme is only an abstract idea. An analogy from daily life may help clarify this ques
18、tion. People all need vitamins and get them from various kinds of vegetables and fruits. Only those with deficiency of one kind or another have to take vitamin pills to get the required amount. The difference between the theme and the novel is much like that between the vitamins and the vegetables.
19、The reader sometimes finds that the theme of a novel is similar to or even the same as what he has already known about life and that he is still fascinated by the novel. Theme appeals solely to the intellectual level of reading while the novel as a whole mainly appeals to the emotional level.Another
20、 pitfall concerning the theme is to confuse a theme with moral or lesson. Usually, a moral or a lesson is the advice stated or implied in a parable or fable. It is something of a rule by which one can regulate his behavior. For example, “Be kind to your neighbors,” or “Honesty is the best policy.” B
21、ut a theme is more complicated than this as a novel is to enhance ones awareness of life rather than simply to tell him how to behave.A novel is a complicated matter and different readers may have different interpretations of the same novel, so it is incorrect to presume that one novel has only one
22、theme. In some cases, there are several subthemes to the main theme. In reality, some novels are appreciated for their thematic ambiguity. For example, Moby Dick can be interpreted in more ways than one.Finally, the theme is not to be confused with the subject. The theme is an idea while the subject
23、 is a matter or an affair. “Love is invincible” may be a theme, but “love” is only a subject. A subject may be universal. The subjects of The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, and Women in Love are all “love.” But these novels have different themes. A theme is particular to its novel, though there a
24、re many similar themes to be found in other novels.III. Five Requirements for Stating a ThemeThe statement of a theme may be brief or long. And there are different ways to express oneand the same theme. But it should meet the following requirements.A theme must be expressed in the form of a statemen
25、t with a subject and a predicate. For example, “Love of ones country often inspires heroic self-sacrifice.” If a theme is expressed in the form of a phrase, then the phrase must be convertible to sentence form. One can say that the theme of a novel is “futility of envy.” The phrase can be changed to
26、 “envy is futile.” When one chooses to state a theme in the phrase form, he must be very careful about its convertibility to sentence form. For instance ,the phrase “selfless maternal love” does not always mean that “maternal love is selfless.”The theme is generalization about life based on the nove
27、l, and the statement of theme should be true also of other people or life situations. Therefore, names of characters and places should not be mentioned, for they suggest specific things and invite limitations. So in thematic discussion of Wuthering Heights, one may mention “peoples psychology of rev
28、enge,” but not “Heathcliffs.”Though a theme is a generalization, over-generalization should be avoided. Since a theme is extracted from a particular novel (a particular event), it may not be applicable to all situations. So words like “always,” “never,” “all,” and “every” should be avoided. Instead,
29、 one should use words like “some,” “sometimes,” and “may.” When making a generalization, one should strictly keep to what is actually in the novel and not smuggle into it assumptions supplied from his past experience.Since theme is the central and unifying idea of the novel, it must account for all
30、the major details and must not be contradicted by an details in the novel.Since a theme is different from a moral or a lesson, one should avoid reducing a theme to a clich or platitude like “Beauty is only skin-deep.” If one crams every new experience into an old formula, he loses the opportunity of
31、 new perception provided by reading novels.IV. Where to Look for the ThemeThe novelist may state or imply the theme. He uses every possible method to convey the theme. Though the theme is based upon the whole novel, practically, we can specify some important areas in which to look for the theme.How
32、the novel is entitled. The title is the name of the novel and in many cases (almost all cases) the novelist intends it to tell something important about the novel. Sometimes the central theme of the novel is present in the title. For example, Pride and Prejudice is about Darcys pride and Elizabeth B
33、ennets prejudice. Main Street is about the life of middle-class people in a Midwestern town. Think what the title of For Whom the Bell Tolls tells about its theme, and As I lay Dying.How the novelist shows his interest. If the novelist is interested in something, he would allow more space to it, des
34、cribing or narrating in great detail. Yet, sometimes he emphasizes it by leaving it out, as in the case of Ernest Hemingway. The point concerned here is that why the novelist gives more attention to this particular character, since or event but not others.How the novelist deals with a common subject
35、. Often the novelist has to include in his work some common subjects, but if he treats the common subjects in an uncommon way, it shows that he is trying to convey something new or important in the novel. Maybe it is the theme that demands him to do so.Important symbols. Symbols are loaded with impo
36、rtant meanings. So if a symbol appears repeatedly or at important moments, it may point to the theme of the novel. A good example is the letter “A” in The Scarlet Letter.Important speeches. Characters talk and in their talk are revealed their judgments of the other characters or event. The character
37、s judgments may give important clues to the theme.V. Obvious and unobvious themeObvious theme:The theme of a story, since we know, is whatever general idea or insight the entire story reveals. In some stories, the theme is rather obvious. For example, in Aesops fable about the council of the mice th
38、at cannot decide who will bell the cat, the theme is stated in the moral at the end: “It is easier to propose a thing than to carry it out.” In some novels, the title may offer a suggestion about the main theme. For example, Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice is named after its theme, and the whole st
39、ory unfolds itself around that theme. In some novels, the title is not so named but the plot exists primarily to illustrate the theme and it is not very difficult for us to infer what it is. For example, Uncle Toms Cabin by H.B.Stowe and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck voice the themes of slav
40、ery and migratory labor respectively. The title of The Grapes of Wrath comes from a line in an extremely famous Civil War song, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The line is, “He is trampling out the vintage where the Grapes of wrath are stored,” which means “an unjust or oppressive situation, acti
41、on or policy that may inflame desire for vengeance: an explosive condition.” The song was written by a famous and influential social activist, Julia Ward Howe. Unobvious theme: But in most literary works of fiction, the theme is seldom so obvious. That is, generally a theme is not a moral nor a mess
42、age, neither is it clearly conveyed in the title. When we finish reading a finely wrought story, it is easier to sum up the plotto say what happensthan to describe the main idea. To say of James Joyces “Araby” that it is about a boy who goes to a bazaar to buy a gift for a young woman but arrives to
43、o late is to summarize plot, not theme. In many fine short stories, theme is the center, the moving force, the principle of unity. Clearly, such a theme is something more than the characters and events of the story. Most of the short stories challenge an easy-come theme. In Hemingways “A Clean, Well
44、-Lighted Place,” as observed by Kennedy and Gioia, the events are rather simplea young waiter manages to get rid of the old man from the caf and the older waiter stops at a coffee bar on his way homebut while the events themselves seem relatively slight, the story as a whole is full of meaning. For
45、a deep understanding of the meaning, we have to look to other elements of the story besides what happens in it: narrative, symbols, tone, the dialogue between the two waiters, the monologue of the older waiter, etc. Evidently the author intends us to pay more attention to the thoughts and feelings o
46、f the older waiter, the character whose words echo the authors voice. One try on the theme may be: “The older waiter understands the old man and sympathizes with his need for a clean, well-lighted place.” But here we are still talking about what happens in the story, though we are not江西东江生态农业开发有限公司有
47、机蔬菜种植基地项目建议书编写时间：二一一年八月八日第一章 项目概述1.1项目概况1.1.1项目名称有机蔬菜种植基地项目1.1.2项目建设地点江西省赣州市定南县天九镇1.1.3建设规模和内容 有机蔬菜种植基地规划建设规模1万亩，分三期，其中第一期建设3000亩。1.1.4投资估算和资金筹措 本项目总投资为5356万元，其中第一期需投入1522万元。第一期的建设资金1522万元中自筹922万元，银行贷款600万元。1.1.5经济效益和社会评价全部项目建成后，1万亩有机蔬菜基地每年可生产各类有机蔬菜3.5万吨，当年可产生经济收入14000万元。1.2编制依据 （1）中华人民共和国国家标准有机产品；
48、（2）江西东江生态农业科技园总体规划；（3）有关蔬菜栽培技术资料第二章 项目建设背景和必要性2.1建设背景有机蔬菜是目前国际上对无污染、天然种植的蔬菜的一种提法。它要求蔬菜在种植过程中不能使用农药、化肥、生长调节剂等化学品，也不能使用转基因技术，同时要经过独立机构的认证。现在人们对安全食品的需求日益强烈，而有机蔬菜的种植讲究的是安全、自然的生产方式，可以很好地促进和维持生态平衡。有机蔬菜无化学残留，口感佳，而且已被证明比普通蔬菜更具营养。有机食品被誉为“朝阳产业”，具有广阔的市场。联合国粮食和农业组织发表的一份报告分析表明，在过去的10年间，在一些国家的市场上，有机农产品的销售额年递增率超过2
49、0%。这与一些常规食品市场的停滞不前形成了鲜明的对比。在欧美，有机蔬菜是发展速度最快的一个产业。在过去六年中，销售量以每年20的速度增长。中国的有机蔬菜目前无论是规模还是发育程度还很低，总体上还处在起步阶段，并有着巨大的发展潜力，可望成为一个新型的食品支柱产业。 从市场份额看，有机蔬菜目前在国内的市场份额几乎为零，现有的认证有机产品都是面向国际市场的。从发达国家的需求趋势看，有机蔬菜食品在今后十年时间有望达到10-15%的份额，因此从总量上将有较大的提高。国内有机蔬菜食品在未来10年内也有望达到4-5%的市场份额，市场前景非常乐观。2.2项目建设的必要性2.2.1是调整农业生产结构，促进农民增收的需要定南是以山地为主的山区县，山地面积占国土面积80%以上。长期以来，农业种植以水稻为主，结构品种单一、效益低下、综合竞争力不强成为制约当地农业发展、农民增收的主要因素。建设有机蔬菜基地，发展有机食品产业，对调整农业生产结构、提高土地单位面积的
