小说的功能在于叙事，但在不少作家那里，情感也是他们所极力想要表现的内容。晚清民初的感伤小说家们正是如此。而在他们所表现的情感内容当中，有一种值得注意的特殊现象，那就是对道德观念的强调。其实道德训诫小说在中国传统小说当中本来就有很大的市场，话本和拟话本小说 The function of the novel lies in the narrative, but in many writers, the emotion is also the content that they strongly try to express. Late Qing Dynasty sentimental novelists are so. And in their emotional content, there is a special phenomenon that deserves attention, that is, the emphasis on moral concepts. In fact, there is a great market for moral admonitory novels in traditional Chinese novels.