Theme: String for Your Pearls

What is theme? A theme is “an abstract concept that represents the underlying meaning, idea, or message of your memoir” (Silverman 25). Another definition of theme offered by Tristine Rainer in Your Life as Story: “the conceptual string that runs through and holds a work together.” Whereas story is the growth of character, theme is the development of an idea. Theme provides conceptual coherence.

Theme: a dialectic of two opposing ideas To drive a work, a theme must contain conflict between two underlying concepts or values (like the opposition between you and your antagonist). To generate energy a thematic string needs to have positive and negative strands entwined.

How to create theme? Theme is created when the values inherent in your desire line come into conflict with values opposed to it. Examples of thematic conflict from Rainer’s book: My desire to be part of the white world versus my need to know myself as a black woman. Growing up in Vietnam I fantasized about and loved everything American, though my real experience of American culture was destructive. My determination to overcome the problems inflicted by my head injury versus the reality of permanent damage I’d received. How did I keep the space I needed to grow as an individual, yet stay close enough to Clyde to keep live alive in our marriage?

Theme must be “revealed” Revealing a theme is more effective than announcing it. Instead of stating, “This essay about my search for identity,” it’s more effective to “invite the reader along [the] journey of self-discovery” (Silverman 25). Silverman recommends: “Instead, it’s more powerful to explicate our themes by using imagistic, sensory language developed into scenes.”

How to maintain thematic integrity? Your thematic twine must run through your entire work, penetrating every scene. Use the theme to choose those elements—characters, images, scenes, and dialogues—that directly contribute to the development of your thematic conflict and exclude those that don’t. Shape your piece to propel your theme. You may have to write a portion of the draft first before being able to discover the thematic concept.

Why is theme important? Having an identifiable theme is what gives your personal narrative that broader “So What?” or personal-to-universal significance: “Theme ensures that no matter how unique your personal experience, how unusual your story—or how ordinary—its essence will find resonance in others. By having an identifiable human dilemma at the heart of your story, you can concentrate on what makes you unique and on specific details in the writing” (Rainer 221).

It’s the struggle that matters! A good story allows the thematic conflict to linger and develop fully. Don’t rush to resolve it too soon. Figure out the most dramatic way to develop the thematic conflict, to let it build to a climax and conclusion. At the conclusion of the story, story and theme should become one, highlighted by your final realization. The synthesis of your thematic conflict should coincide with the final resolution of the conflict between you and your antagonist.

present yet invisible string Although you want your theme to run through your work, you don’t want it to be noticed. As with a string of pearls, you want your reader’s attention to be focused on the pearls (your scenes, images, details, and dialogue), not the string holding them together.