Theme Notes
What’s a theme? Theme: a central, underlying and controlling idea of a literary work. As an abstract concept it may be represented by: Character Actions Images It’s generalization about human conduct may be serious or comic, profound or unsurprising. The theme is implied (the story will not say “And the theme is…”)
Huh? A theme is a phrase that summarizes the underlying meaning of the story AND a lot of other stories (including books, plays, movies etc).
An example theme: Perseverance leads to the accomplishment of a goal. Here are at least 3 stories this theme applies to…
Perseverance leads to the accomplishment of a goal. Finding Nemo Goal: Marlin & Dory’s goal was to find Nemo Perseverance: Despite all of the dangerous encounters and moments of despair, they kept looking Accomplishment: (spoiler alert) They find Nemo
Perseverance leads to the accomplishment of a goal. The Hunger Games Goal: Katniss needs to survive in the arena in order to live Perseverance: Katniss must fight others and elements (weather, hunger etc) Accomplishment: She survives and is taken back to the real world
Perseverance leads to the accomplishment of a goal. Frozen Goal: Find Elsa and bring her home so it is not winter forever Perseverance: Anna, Olaf and friends battle bad weather and becoming frozen to save Elsa so she can unfreeze their home Accomplishment: Anna helps Elsa realize love will unfreeze the town
Perseverance leads to the accomplishment of a goal. This is a theme because it is phrase that summarizes the underlying meaning of Finding Nemo, The Hunger Games, Frozen…AND a lot of other stories!
IMPORTANT: A theme is an entire sentence! A theme is NOT 1 word A fragment Do not include details from a story Character names, setting, specific quotes etc.
But…Sparknotes? Shmoop? One word/short phrases a thematic topic Topic=1 word. Theme=full sentence These topics can help you determine the FULL SENTENCE theme Example themes for the topic of: RACE Racism is learned so it can also be unlearned. Children are able to see the personality of someone, not just their race.
Practice: Why are the following NOT themes in To Kill a Mockingbird? Jem and Scout realize racism is bad. Race.
Answers: Why are the following NOT themes in To Kill a Mockingbird? Jem and Scout realize racism is bad. Do not include details from a story Jem and Scout are names that are specific to To Kill a Mockingbird Race. This is a topic. A theme must be an entire sentence.
What could be a theme in To Kill a Mockingbird? Pick one of these thematic topics to write an entire theme that applies to To Kill a Mockingbird: Social Inequality Morals Education Friendship Community The law
Themes in Short Stories
Themes in “Helen on 86th St.” What is a theme of “Helen on 86th St?” You may consider the following topics… Family Hatred Jealousy Accomplishment Goal Independence
Themes in “Marigolds” Innocence Poverty Maturity Beauty
Example Themes in Marigolds One cannot have both innocence and compassion. One must lose ones innocence in order to truly see the world. Everyone needs hope in order to survive.