THEME:What It Is and How to Find It

Theme:

• The moral or lesson of a story; its message.

What it is NOT

• One word• Love• Death• Jealousy• Greed

• These are subjects, not themes

What it IS

• The author’s opinion on a subject• Love ruins (“Romeo & Juliet”)• Death is not the end (“The 5 People You Meet in Heaven”)• Jealousy kills (“Othello”)• Greed corrupts (“The Pardoner’s Tale”)

Note that…

• A story can have many different themes, sometimes even conflicting ones.• Since a theme is based on an opinion, you can’t really be

wrong about a theme, as long as it is well-supported by evidence from the text.

For example:

• You and your friend could both read “Death of a Salesman” and you could say that a theme is “Success is measured by how much money you have,” while your friend might say that a theme is that “Success is measured by how happy you are.”• Who is right? You could BOTH be, as long as you find strong

evidence from the text to support your opinion.

Some More Examples• A theme for the movie “Frozen” might be…

• You can’t run away from your problems

• A theme for “The Hunger Games” might be…

• It is difficult but possible to maintain your humanity while fighting for your life

• A theme for “Harry Potter” might be…

• Love is the most powerful force of all.

How to Find a Theme1.Look at what happens to the main character

1. Does s/he change in a major way? How?1. Does s/he die? Save the day?2. Does s/he succeed or fail?

• If the main character changes in a POSITIVE way, the message might be to try to be like him/her

• I would posit that the more Elsa believes in herself, the more trustworthy she becomes.• If that is true of people in general, then the audience should want to

become more like Elsa.

• If the main character changes in a NEGATIVE way, the message might be to avoid making the choices the main character made.

• Hamlet—and a lot of people he cares about—dies by the end of his play.• We can assume that Shakespeare DOESN’T want us to end up like

Hamlet, so we shouldn’t repeat his mistakes—revenge, anger, procrastination, etc.

A quick word on main characters and symbols…

• In some (or even many) stories, the main characters are meant to symbolize mankind as a whole.• One example is Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “If I Forget Thee, O

Earth.” The main characters of this story are stranded on the Moon because the Earth has been destroyed by nuclear war.

• We would likely NOT want to end up like these characters so we should avoid their mistakes.• A theme of this story might be “Mankind should try to settle his problems

peacefully, without violence or war.”• This is a common theme in Science Fiction stories.

Another Way to Find Theme2 . Watch for statements of theme.• Sometimes, the author will simply state the theme of the story, often

near the end of the story. • For example, one character might say to another, “Life is like that

sometimes, you know. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. But you’ve got to play the game.”

• In this case, a theme could be that whether things turn out good or bad, some risks are worth taking.

Finding Theme, Part 3

3. Analyze the title for clues. • For this to work, think about what was going on in the book when the

title was mentioned or referred to. • Was it something positive or negative? • Did the main character(s) learn something when the title of the story was

relayed to them?• Examples: • Of Mice and Men• To Kill a Mockingbird• The Call of the Wild• Brave New World• The Grapes of Wrath

Examples of Themes Based on Titles

• Of Mice and Men—”The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry (wrong).”• To Kill a Mockingbird—”It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” • Think about whom the mockingbird represents.

A Final Way to Find a Theme4. Consider the main conflict.• Look at this in an abstract way: • Could you categorize it as “man v. nature,” “man v. man,” “man v. self”?• If the story were Moby Dick, rather than Capt. Ahab’s search for the

massive, white whale, this might translate to man’s inability to control the forces of nature.

Some Practice

• Try to determine a theme for the following stories.• If you’re unfamiliar with any of the stories, look to SparkNotes for a

synopsis (summary) or YouTube for a movie trailer.• The Wizard of Oz (this one should be pretty easy)• Snow White and the Seven Dwarves• Pinocchio• The Three Little Pigs

• Special thanks to @mistersato411. Watch his video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4qME64SkxM