1. Themes Mrs. Smith

2. Objectives Review the definition of “theme” Describe the best ways in which the theme of the story may be stated Distinguish between the theme of a story and the central purpose of a story Differentiate between typical themes of commercial vs. literary stories Review the six principles relating to theme as described in this chapter.

3. Theme controlling idea or central insight To determine the theme, you must determine the central purpose Purpose of some stories: provide suspense, make readers laugh, surprise them

4. Theme exists only … (1)when an author has seriously attempted to record life accurately or to reveal some truth about it (2)when an author has deliberately introduced a concept or theory of life

5. Theme exists in all literary fiction usually less important in commercial fiction than plot and suspense gives a story unity is sometimes stated, more often implied

6. Theme is NOT a moral.

7. Literary vs. Commerical Literary questions beliefs challenges beliefs somber truths Commercial confirm prejudices endorses opinions ratify feelings satisfy wishes represent life as we would like it to be

8. a test of understanding of the story (1)Theme should be expressible in the form of a statement with a subject and a predicate. (2)The theme should be stated as a generalization about life. (3)Do not make the genralization larger than is justified by the story. Avoid terms like every, all, always. (4)Theme is the central and unifying concept of a story. (1)It accounts for all major details. (2)It is not contradicted by any detail. (3) It cannot rely on supposed facts. Stating the theme

9. (5) There is no one way of stating the theme of a story. (6) Avoid any statement that reduces the theme to some familiar saying. (Those are mostly clichés.