1. A quick and easy guide to get you thinking thematically
Theme & Motif
A quick and easy guide to get you thinking thematically

2. When talking about theme…
1. A theme is never just one word.
Theme –
A literary work’s central idea or main message about life; usually not stated directly but left for the reader to define; NOT a moral*.
*The moral of the story is…be kind to strangers!

3. When talking about theme…
There are two questions we must always ask ourselves:
1. What is the story about?
The answer this question is a one-word response called a motif.
heritage
poverty
racism
power
stereotypes

4. When talking about theme…
2. What does the story say about _________________? (insert heritage)
The answer to this question gives us a theme.
What does the story Everyday Use say about heritage?
Heritage brings people closer together.
Heritage gives people identity.
Heritage shows us how to connect, in the present, to our past and future.

5. To recap… A theme is never one word, but a motif is.
We must ask ourselves two questions when thinking about theme:
What is the story about? = Motif
What does the story say about ______________? (Insert motif in blank) = Theme
A theme is not a moral. It is a message about life that we learn from the story.