come out with

A theme is an idea, concept, or lesson that conveys a moral message in a text and explores it through characters, setting, dialogue, plot, or elements. Hence, you need to invest your time in identifying the story’s theme as it is not stated explicitly. In a way, a piece of writing with a hidden, thought–provoking theme is a treasure that provokes us to think rather than telling us what to think. To identify the theme of a story, we need first to understand how writers convey the theme through their work. This article gives you an example to spot a theme and lists themes to explore with some relevant examples.

best theme

Writers often use specific devices to convey their themes that interact differently to make up the story. A topic introduces your story to your readers and audiences. Mostly, the title gives a cue to what happens in the story; it may be descriptive or definitive. At the same time, a theme is interpretive, as different readers have their interpretations. Hence, a theme gives the reader the flexibility to explore a specific topic A motif uses an image, sound, word, or symbol repetitively to convey the story’s central idea. For example, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald emphasizes the theme of judgment through the repetitive narration by Nick Carraway.

bright theme

Themes focus on the story and hence impart a meaning to the text. It also connects the reader to the characters and their struggles, contributing to a compelling read. Also, it helps the writer to focus her ideas and understandably present them. Here is an example of extracting the theme from the movie Animal Farm. Animal Farm speaks of the power struggle between different animals on a farm to achieve leadership. In reality, this symbolizes the rise and fall of communism in Russia. Furthermore, it discusses how corrupt leaders misuse their power and turn into authoritarians. Hence, the movie’s theme is found to be power and corruption. Let us now disclose how the theme is distributed across different story elements. The theme of revenge

portrays the conflict between a character and the enemy. The character then repays for the wrong done to them. However, it could also explore the cost of pursuing vengeance and the moral dilemmas.

benefits of theme

Leaders who harm their organizations or social systems tend to have negative life stories. A negative life story reflects a destructive image of the world and a person’s role in it. It can usually be traced to painful childhood experiences. Severe parental discord, low socioeconomic status, paternal criminality, maternal psychiatric disorder, and child a bus area common themes for authoritarian or tyrannical adults. Childhood adversity is associated with positive lessons for some children who overcome it with the help of supportive adults   outside a dysfunctional family (such as teachers, grandparents, or coaches) and their own resilient personalities. Not all children are so fortunate: some do not have the sparkly or resilient personality needed to attract helpful adults and to make lemonade out of lemons. In addition, some experiences are simply too powerful or recurrent for many children to escape.

Subdivissions

Coming Of Age

This theme includes stories of the experiences of young characters who lost their innocence or adopted a different perspective on life. J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye recollects the experiences of a teenager Holden Caulfield as he deals with the teenage rebellion in the 1950s.Louisa May Alcott’s classic Little Women weaves the experiences of four siblings as they grow into their womanhood in 19th-century Massachusetts.

conclusion         

The theme of a story is what the author is trying to convey  in other words, the central idea of the story. Short stories often have just one theme, whereas novels usually have multiple themes. The theme of a story is woven all the way through the story, and the characters’ actions, interactions, and motivations all reflect the story’s theme. But don’t confuse theme with the story’s plot or moral. The plot is simply what happens in the story and the order of the story’s events, and the moral is the lesson that the writer wants the main character (and by extension, you) to learn from the story. Each of these serves the overall theme of the story. That is, the events of the story illustrate the theme, and the lesson that you learn relates directly to the theme. So when you’re trying to recognize the theme of a story, ask yourself what the author is trying to convey through the characters and events of the story. For instance, in The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield’s actions are motivated by his not wanting to grow up, so one of the main themes of this novel is the preservation of innocence.