Common Themes in Literature

Man V. Nature

• People are destroying nature and themselves with out-of-control technology.

• Nature is against us and proves our powerlessness.

Man Vs. Society

• Everyone is against one of the characters.• One of the characters really wants to belong

to a certain crowd, but no matter how hard he tries, he can’t.

• A character does “belong” to a crowd, but still feels alone.

Man Vs. “the gods”• “The gods” are mocking man and torturing

him for trying to be better than “the gods.” Ex. mythology

• “The gods” could careless, or don’t exist. (depressing, huh?)

• In Christian literature and other religious literature, “the gods” or God helps man.

Man Vs. Man

• Marriage, friendship, or any relationship works when both people learn to sacrifice for each other. Ex. “Gift of the Magi”

• Bullying: one character must overcome the other one somehow.

Man Vs. Himself

• Life is interrupted by a random horrifying event.

• A series of difficult events help a person mature and gain confidence. This is when a person realizes who he/she really is: also called “Coming of Age.” *very common in teen literature

Time & Death

• Life is too short.• Live life to the fullest.• Life is not worth living without love.• Death is the final joke on life. (Writers are not

typically happy go-lucky people!)• There is no such thing as an afterlife, or there

is an afterlife. Both are common in literature.

Credits

For further info check out:www.sjsu.edu/faculty/patten/theme.html