Theme

1. Theme • Definition of theme • Elements of Theme • How to “find” themes • Examples of themes

2. The Reader’s Job • Part of your job as a reader is to understand what the author is trying to say. • Writers seldom come out and tell you, “Hey, Reader! THIS is what I want you to GET from my writing.” • You, as the reader, must make inferences and draw conclusions about what the author is trying to express.

3. So, what is theme? • Theme is the message from the author. • Themes can be found everywhere: • Literature • Art • Movies • The theme of a piece of literature is its view about life and how people behave.

4. Theme defined • A central idea or “truth” that a work of literature expresses • A comment that a work of literature makes on the human condition

5. Get to the POINT! • Theme is NOT the TOPIC. • Theme IS the POINT being made about the TOPIC. • Theme is a statement about LIFE. • A GOOD theme teaches a VALUABLE lesson about life.

6. Theme Versus Subject • Subject: what a work is about. It can usually be expressed in one word. For example, “Love” is a subject of Romeo and Juliet • Theme: What does the work say about the subject? It should be a complete sentence or statement. For example, “In Romeo and Juliet, we learn that adolescent romance can be a stronger force than family ties.”

7. You and Theme • An understanding of theme is dependent upon one’s previous experience of life and literature. • At the same time, theme in literature can enlarge one’s understanding of life.

8. Themes must be supported! • Just because works can have multiple themes, it does not mean that the theme can be anything that you want. • In order for a theme to be justified, there must be specific, concrete evidence from the text. • For example, if your potential theme statement is that “Poverty creates tough, self-reliant people,” then the book should contain examples of poor characters who develop toughness and self-reliance.

9. Finding the Theme What is the topic or “BIG IDEA” of the work? What do the characters say or do that relates to the topic? What do these things tell you that are important to learn about life? The topic is… The BIG IDEA is… The characters say… The characters do… The text tells me… It is important to…

10. Asking questions • What is the subject? • What does the book say, or teach us, about the subject? • How does the work communicate the theme? In other words, what specific details, characters, actions, incidents, etc, suggest the truth of the theme statement?

11. Characteristically Speaking • Questions to ask yourself when thinking about theme and characters: • How does the character change? • What made him/her change? • What lessons did the character learn? • What are the characters’ feelings about what happens in the story? • What conflicts do the characters engage in and what happens as a result?

12. Theme must go beyond the book • To be a true theme, the truth or comment must apply to people or to life in general, not just the characters in the book. • For example, “In Beauty and the Beast, Belle learns that true beauty comes from within,” only applies to the story. • Instead, express the theme like this: “In Beauty and the Beast, we learn through Belle and the beast that true beauty comes from within.”

13. Theme topics

14. The Quest For Immortality • “Stranger, stop and cast an eye. As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so you shall be, Prepare for death and follow me.” (Epitaph in a European monastery)

15. The individual’s relationship and obligation to society • Sometimes called man vs. society

16. The individual’s inward journey to understand himself or herself/identity.

17. How justice and injustice are decided.

18. The individual as hero: what it means to be a hero or anti-hero.

19. What it means to be a “survivor.”

20. The individual’s experience of alienation or despair

21. LOVE: Marriage Romance Platonic or companionate love Altruistic love Love of Country Admiration Possessiveness Intense dependency Logical-sensible love Self-centered love Game-Playing Unrequited love Godly love Familial love Infatuation Physical attraction Jealousy

22. POSSIBLE THEME QUESTIONS

23. Questions about the nature of humanity • Does the author think that humans are good or flawed? • What good things do people do? • How are people flawed? • To what extent are people flawed?

24. Questions about Society • Does the society help people or hurt them? • Are characters in conflict with society? • Do characters want to escape the society? • Is the society flawed? • If so, how?

25. Questions about humans and the world • Do characters control their lives? Do they make free choices? • Are characters driven by forces beyond their control? • Does the world have some grand scheme, or is it random and arbitrary?

26. Questions about Ethics • What are the moral conflicts in the work? • Are right and wrong clear cut in the story? • Does right win over wrong, or vice versa? • To what extent are characters to blame for their actions.

27. Words of the Wise • At times the author’s theme may not confirm or agree with your own beliefs. • Even then, if skillfully written, the work will still have a theme that illuminates some aspects of true human experience.

28. Multiple themes are possible! • Many books have more than one theme, so do not think that there is one “right” theme to any book you read. In fact, most great literature has multiple themes.