1. THEME

2. What is the theme?
How does it apply to the story?
How does it apply to real life?

3. Theme
Theme is the overall message or meaning that you think the story is trying to convey. As opposed to "Plot," which answers the question "what happened in the story?", theme answers the question "What does this story mean?".

4. Typically, the theme of a story will somehow relate to our experiences as human beings. For instance, themes will deal with the questions of love, life, death, morality, growing-up, etc.
When dealing with theme you want to be careful not to be too abstract or to oversimplify the theme.

5. Common Themes
Some simple examples of common themes from literature, TV, and film are:
Things are not always as they appear to be
Love is blind
Believe in yourself
People are afraid of change

6. The theme in a piece of fiction is it’s controlling idea or it’s central insight. It is the authors underlying meaning or main idea that he is trying to convey. The theme may be the authors thoughts about a topic or view of human nature. The title of the story sometimes points to what the writer is saying and he may use various figures of speech to emphasize his theme, such as: symbol, allusion, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, or irony.

7. Your assignment:
Conflict – one well written paragraph describing the conflict(s) of the story.
Theme – one well written paragraph explaining the theme of the story – what is the message the author wants you to get from the story.
Reaction – one well written paragraph telling me how this story made you feel. Can you identify with any of the characters? What did you like about the story? What didn’t you like? Why?