Reading Skills – Theme
Notes on ThemeReader’s Handbook, 376-382 – reference. Test on Friday. Study Questions:
- What are three steps in the plan for understanding theme?
- What is a topic?
- What is a theme?
- What are three examples of common topics?
- What are the three characteristics of a good theme statement?
Answers
What are three steps in the plan for understanding theme?
- Finding the “big ideas” or general topics in the work
- Finding out what the characters do and say that relates to the general topics
- Coming up with a statement of the author’s point or message about the topic
What is topic?The topic is simply what the piece of literature is about. What is theme?The author’s point of view about the topic. What are three examples of common topics?Childhood, courage, death, faith, family, freedom, growing up, hate, hope, identity, independence, justice, love, loyalty, nature, patience, patriotism, prejudice, race relations, self-improvement, self-reliance, success, trust, truth, unhappiness, violence, and war. What are the three characteristics of a good theme statement?Complete sentence that makes a point. It should be as precise as possible concerning what particular message about life that the writer is trying to get across. Third, the theme statement should relate to people in general not just to specific characters in the story.
