Theme Mrs. Bernhardt 8H

It can be stated or implied. Theme: The theme of a piece of writing is the message that an author is trying to get across to a reader. This is expressed as a general statement. It can be stated or implied. Examples: Don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Be careful what you wish for. Persistence triumphs over tragedy.

Practice identifying theme: Two elderly women are sitting on a bench outside of Walmart. One of the women is complaining about the fact that she has no car and has to walk everywhere. She gets up and leaves never knowing that the other woman is crippled and would give anything to be able to walk. Theme: _____________________________

How to find a theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIuKNVny9cM

1) How does a character change or what does a character learn? 2) Conflict – which force wins and why. 3) A character may directly state the theme.

Practice with fables: A dog to whom a butcher had given a bone was hurrying home with his prize as fast as he could go. As he crossed a narrow bridge, he happened to look down and saw his reflection in the water. He, however, thought that it was another dog who was carrying a bone that was bigger than his own. He immediately dropped his bone and jumped into the water to get the bigger one. He quickly found himself swimming for his life to get to the riverbank without his original bone or the bigger bone of the “other dog.” Theme: _______________________________

More Practice: A certain father had a family of sons who were constantly quarreling among themselves. Nothing he said did the least good, so he tried to think of an example that would help them to see how their disagreements would lead to misfortune. He asked one of his sons to bring him a bundle of sticks. Then handing the bundle to each of his sons in turn, he told them each to try to break it. Each one tried, but were not strong enough. The father then untied the bundle, divided up the sticks between his sons and told them to break their share. This they did very easily. Theme: ______________________________

Try one on your own: The Gossiper A young girl repeated a bit of gossip about a fellow student. Within a few days the whole school knew the story. The girl responsible for spreading the rumor learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to her guidance counselor for advice on how to repair the damage. The counselor advised her to, “Write your apology on 20 different pieces of paper. On your way to school, scatter the pieces of paper on the ground. “ Although confused by this advice, the girl did as she was told and returned to her guidance counselor. The counselor told her, “Now go and collect all of those apology papers and bring them back to me. The young girl tried to find all of the pieces of paper, however, she returned to the counselor with only 3 in her hand. “You see, said the counselor, “it’s easy to drop them, but it’s impossible to get them back. So it is with gossip.”

Theme for Stop the Sun: With knowledge comes understanding and tolerance. Evidence from story: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________