Theme Statement Review Remember a theme statement is a sentence that argues a point about how you see the theme topic throughout the story. You have to think about what the story you read reveals about that theme topic. Ask yourself the following question: What does this story reveal about ___(topic)___?

Evaluate Theme Statements Good examples of theme statements: In The Last of the Mohicans, love and sacrifice lead to a character’s uprising. What is the theme topic? What does this writer say the movie reveals about that topic?

Evaluate Theme Statements Good examples of theme statements: In The Last of the Mohicans, heroism leads to success for the Mohicans. What is the theme topic? What does this writer say the movie reveals about that topic?

Evaluate Theme Statements Good examples of theme statements: In The Last of the Mohicans, following intuition over reason upholds the survival of the characters. What is the theme topic? What does this writer say the movie reveals about that topic?

Common Mistakes Common mistakes noticed when writing theme statements: The writer does not discuss what the story reveals about your topic: there is no argument. The writer restates or defines the theme topic in a complete sentence. The theme statement is a specific statement and not a general one. The topic is not apparent throughout the entire work, and therefore makes the theme statement too limited.

Evaluate Theme Statements Theme statements that missed the mark: In The Last of the Mohicans, there is a battle between good and evil in the movie. What wrong with this attempted theme statement? Can you identify the topic? Can you identify an argument? Is it a general statement or too specific?

Evaluate Theme Statements Theme statements that missed the mark: In The Last of the Mohicans, many of the characters do heroic things. What wrong with this attempted theme statement? Can you identify the topic? Can you identify an argument? Is it a general statement or too specific?

Evaluate Theme Statements Theme statements that missed the mark: In The Last of the Mohicans, man encounters hardships of the natural world. What wrong with this attempted theme statement? Can you identify the topic? Can you identify an argument? Is it a general statement or too specific?

Evaluate Theme Statements Theme statements that missed the mark: The Last of the Mohicans, is about love because Hawkeye falls in love with Cora and causes them to get into tough situations. What wrong with this attempted theme statement? Can you identify the topic? Can you identify an argument? Is it a general statement or too specific?

Evaluate Theme Statements Theme statements that missed the mark: In The Last of the Mohicans, Hawkeye’s Mohican name symbolizes that he is an excellent marksmen. What wrong with this attempted theme statement? Can you identify the topic? Can you identify an argument? Is it a general statement or too specific?

Creating a Theme Statement for “The Masque of the Red Death” Think about the four theme topics you discussed yesterday: mortality (death), versions of reality (appearance v. reality), fear, or foolishness and folly. Choose one and write your theme topic. Think about your brainstorming discussion assignment from yesterday. What do you think the story reveals about ____(your topic)____? Write a theme statement that follows this format: In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Poe shows that (fill in your revelation from above making it a complete sentence)

Brainstorming for Extended Theme Paragraph What are the additional skills we focused on during this Dark Romanticism? (Think about the targets on your bellringers.) Diction Mood/Tone Characteristics of Dark Romanticism Find examples from the story (text) that you think supports each of these skills AND your theme statement. Complete the chart below: Skills Passage and Page Number Explanation Diction (Write diction vocabulary) 2 3 Mood/Tone (Write tone word) 4 5 Dark Romanticism (Write one Characteristic) 6 7

Writing About Theme Write an extended paragraph that proves your theme statement from “The Masque of the Red Death 1. TS: Identify Theme Statement. Include the title of the work and author. Diction Chunk : 2. SS: First example from text that supports theme. Discuss the type of diction Poe uses in this story. 3. EX: Explain why that example supports that theme. This should be more than one sentence long. Mood/Tone Chunk : 4. SS: Second example from text that supports theme. Discuss the mood/tone of this story. 5. EX: Explain why that example supports that theme. This should be more than one sentence long. Dark Romanticism Chunk : 6. SS: First example from text that supports theme. Discuss one element of Dark Romanticism that you see in the story. 7. EX: Explain why that example supports that theme. This should be more than one sentence long. 8. CS: Explain the overall significance of the theme to the story. What do you think Edgar Allan Poe is saying about your theme topic?

Writing About Theme Write an extended paragraph that proves your theme statement from “The Masque of the Red Death 1. TS: Identify Theme Statement. Include the title of the work and author. Diction Chunk : 2. SS: First example from text that supports theme. Discuss the type of diction Poe uses in this story. Example sentence: “The first way Poe supports this theme is through his use of cacophonous diction.” 3. EX: Explain why that example supports that theme. This should be more than one sentence long. Describe the examples from the text that show this diction. Poe uses cacophonous words like…” Explain how that diction supports your theme. Connect the diction back to your theme statement. This should be at least 2-3 sentences long.

Writing About Theme Mood/Tone Chunk : 4. SS: Second example from text that supports theme. Discuss the mood/tone of this story. 5. EX: Explain why that example supports that theme. This should be more than one sentence long. Describe the examples from the text that show this mood/tone. Remember, mood/tone is an emotion. Explain how the mood/tone supports your theme. Connect the emotion of mood/tone back to your theme statement. This should be at least 2-3 sentences long.

Writing About Theme Dark Romanticism Chunk : 6. SS: Third example from text that supports theme. Discuss one element of Dark Romanticism that you see in the story. 7. EX: Explain why that example supports that theme. This should be more than one sentence long. Describe the examples from the text that show this characteristic of Dark Romanticism. Explain how this characteristic supports your theme. Connect element of Dark Romanticism back to your theme statement. This should be at least 2-3 sentences long. 8. CS: Think about author’s purpose and theme. Explain the overall significance of the theme to the story. What do you think Edgar Allan Poe is saying about your theme topic?

How well do you understand this? Think about how well you understand this process. Evaluate your understanding on a scale of 1-10. 1: I don’t understand this at all and I would not know how to start this if I had to do it on my own. 5: I grasp writing about theme, but I would need another walk through if I had to write this on my own. 10: I completely understand this. I could write a theme paragraph without any guidance if I was given a passage I have never seen before.