Theme: A theme is an insight, viewpoint, or concept that a story conveys.
What the story is about — not the characters or plot, but the idea behind the story, the judgments or attitudes that
the story implies about humanity and the laws of the universe.
The
theme of a fable is its moral. The theme of a parable is its teaching. The theme of a piece of fiction is its view about life
and how people behave. In fiction, the theme is not intended to teach or preach. In fact, it is not presented directly at
all. You extract it from the characters, action, and setting that make up the story. In other words, you must figure out the
theme yourself.
Finding the Theme: Here are some ways to uncover the theme in a
story: Check out the title. Sometimes it tells you a lot about the theme. Notice repeating patterns and symbols. Sometimes
these lead you to the theme. What allusions are made throughout the story? What are the details and particulars in the story?
What greater meaning may they have? Remember that theme, plot, and structure are inseparable, all helping to inform and reflect
back on each other. Also, be aware that a theme we determine from a story never completely explains the story. It is simply
one of the elements that make up the whole.
Examples
of Literary Themes
Aging
All
things are connected no matter how random they seem
Ambition
American
Dream
Apocalypse
Beauty
Betrayal
Black
Humor
Bravery
Catharsis
(purging of emotional tensions)
Challenge
and Success
Choices
and Possibilities
Code
of Conduct
Community
and Responsibility
Courage
Cowardice
Death
and How To Deal With It
Decadence
Duty
(filial piety)
Exile
Family
Fear
Femininity
Feminism
Freedom
Friendship
Generosity
Good
and Evil
Greed
Guilt
Happiness
Hate
Heroism
Holocaust
Homosexuality
Human
Relationship
Humor
Hysteria
Identity
Imagination
Imperialism
Importance
of Education
Incest
Individuality
Innocence
and Experience
Intellectual
and moral education
Irony
Jealousy
Liberty
and Authority
Loneliness
Loss
of Innocence.
Love
Loyalty
Madness
Masculinity
Maturity
Perseverance
Prejudice
Racism
and Acceptance
Racism
and slavery
Radicalism
Religion
and Faith
Responsibility
Role
of Men
Role
of Women
Sacrifice
Social
change in 19th-Century Russia
Social
class structure and Inequality
Suffering
That
even the most menial of things have meaning
The
American Dream
The
hollowness of the upper class
The
hypocrisy of "civilized" society
The
impossibility of certainty
The
Meaning of Freedom
The
mystery of death
The
Power of One
Tradition
Truth
Vampirism
War
Wisdom
More
Common Themes in Literature
1. The Individual in Nature
a.
Nature is at war with each of us and proves our vulnerability.
b.
People are out of place in Nature and need technology to survive.
c.
People are destroying nature and themselves with uncontrolled technology.
2. The Individual in Society
a.
Society and a person's inner nature are always at war.
b.
Social influences determine a person's final destiny.
c.
Social influences can only complete inclinations formed by Nature.
d.
A person's identity is determined by place in society.
e.
In spite of the pressure to be among people, and individual is essentially alone and frightened.
3. An individual's Relation to the gods.
a.
The god(s) are benevolent and will reward human beings for
overcoming
evil and temptation.
b.
The gods mock the individual and torture him or her for presuming to be great.
c.
The gods are jealous of and constantly thwarts human aspiration to power and
knowledge.
d.
The gods are indifferent toward human beings and let them run their undetermined course.
e.
There are no gods in whom people can place their faith or yearning for meaning in the universe.
4. Human Relations
a.
Marriage is a perpetual comedy bound to fail.
b.
Marriage is a relationship in which each partner is supported and enabled to grow.
c.
An old man marrying a young woman is destined to be a cuckold.
d.
Parents should not sacrifice all for a better life for their children.
e.
There are few friends who will make extreme sacrifices.
5. Growth and Initiation
a.
A boy and a girl must go through a special trial or series of trials before maturing.
b. Manhood or womanhood is often established by an abrupt, random crisis, sometimes at
an unusually early age.
c.
Aspects of childhood are retained in all of us, sometimes hindering growth, sometimes providing the only joy in later life.
d. A person grows only in so far as he or she must face a crisis of confidence or identity.
6. Time
a.
Enjoy life now, for the present moment, because we all die too soon.
b.
By the time we understand life, there is too little left to live.
7. Death
a.
Death is part of living, giving life its final meaning.
b.
Death is the ultimate absurd joke on life.
c.
There is no death, only a different plane or mode of life without physical decay.
d.
Without love, death often appears to be the only alternative to life.
8. Alienation
a. An individual is isolated from fellow human beings and foolishly
tries
to bridge the gaps.
b. Modern culture is defective because it doesn't provide group ties which in
primitive
cultures makes alienation virtually impossible.
Theme
(literature)
In
literature, a theme is a broad idea in a story, or a message or lesson conveyed by a work. This message is usually about life,
society or human nature. Many novels and or stories contain more than 1 theme. Themes are the fundamental and often universal
ideas explored in a literary work. Themes are usually implied rather than explicitly stated.
Themes differ from motifs in that themes are ideas conveyed by a text, while motifs are repeated symbols that represent
those ideas. Simply having repeated symbolism related to chess, does not make the story's theme the similarity of life to
chess. Themes arise from the interplay of the plot, the characters, and the attitude the author takes to them, and the same
story can be given very different themes in the hands of different authors.
