太原市东山植物园建设工程报告.doc

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, structurally 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 main 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. Cohn 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 Wilson’s case the novelist intends to point out the profound cause of Gatsby’s tragedy. Dr. Watson in the stories of Sherlock Holmes serves as a foil 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 not. 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 denied 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 Theme?Aristotle in Poetics lists si