No proper theme is simply a subject of an activity. In a literary sense, a symbol combines a literal and sensuous quality with an abstract or suggestive aspect . . . Characteristically it speaks words of praise to imply blame and words of blame to imply praise. In the stricter sense of the term, the type concerns the manners and conventions of an artificial, highly sophisticated society. The stylized fashions and manners of this group dominate the surface and determine the pace and tone of this sort of comedy.
Characters are more likely to be types than individuals.
It employs a distinctive kind of imagination that insists on having its general frame of reference within itself. . . . Modern implies a historical discontinuity, a sense of alienation, loss, and despair. It rejects not only history but also the society of whose fabrication history is a record.