Meanwhile, the theme can be more generalized; there can also be more than one theme in a story. Readers uncover theme s as they go along, because it consistently reappears throughout the work of fiction or nonfiction.
As such, a moral can be a theme, but the theme doesn't have to be the moral of the story. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, one could argue that the theme is the power of love. Love drew these two characters to one another, and nothing was going to stop them from coming together. However, the moral of the story is quite different.
The case could be made that the moral of the story is not to let old family wounds carry on needlessly. Or, don't let your ego rule your life, especially when it comes at the expense of your children's happiness. So, the moral repair old family wounds can be one of the themes of the story, but the theme undying love isn't necessarily the moral of the story. While the theme is the underlying message that the writer would like to convey, the mood is a literary element that evokes certain feelings through words and descriptions.
The mood can evoke an emotional response from your readers, helping them connect with your writing piece. In a way, the mood the author establishes creates an emotional setting. One of the ways mood can be established is through the point of view in which the story is being told.
That creates rather a gloomy mood, doesn't it? Frost indicates he shall be telling this with a sigh. However, that's an appropriate mood, given the author's reflection on a regrettable choice he made in the past. Throughout every bit of character development and conflict resolution, a theme should be prevalent. It's the glue that binds the story together. If the theme is courage, we'll see it in most of the pivotal plot elements.
We'll admire the main character for his strength and resolute behavior. We'll see it unfold, no matter the setting or number of characters. The next time you read a new work of fiction or nonfiction, jot down notes pertaining to the theme or themes. See how many you can find. After you've turned that final page, see what central message you've taken away with you. Perhaps it'll inspire you to live a better tomorrow.
Are you ready to frame a theme into a fascinating story that'll stand the test of time? You can get started with these tips on writing a bestseller. All rights reserved. Examples of Theme in Literature.
What Is Theme? How to Find the Theme No story is complete without a few essential elements. They are: Characters - The people who take part in the action of the story Setting - Where the story takes place Plot - The events that make up a story Conflict - The struggle faced by the main character that must reach a resolution At this point, you can also ask yourself, "What's the main idea?
These three questions will help you unearth it: What problem is the main character facing? What lesson did the main character learn? What message can you take away from the story? Common Theme Examples The more you read, the more you'll spot some of the popular literary themes.
Courage Courage is a wonderful theme to explore in writing. Here are a few examples of courage in major works of literature: A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway features characters who endure a difficult war and display honorable courage in nearly every instance.
The Hobbit by J. Tolkien tells the tale of a homely hobbit who sets off on an important quest. Iliad and Odyssey by Homer also maintain a war theme and the bravery that one must assume in order to survive. Symbol: Broadly defined, a symbol is anything that represents another thing.
In literature, a symbol is often a tangible thing—an object, person, place, or action—that represents something intangible. Near the beginning of Romeo and Juliet , Benvolio promises to make Romeo feel better about Rosaline's rejection of him by introducing him to more beautiful women, saying "Compare [Rosaline's] face with some that I shall show…. Symbols might occur once or twice in a book or play to represent an emotion, and in that case aren't necessarily related to a theme.
However, if you start to see clusters of similar symbols appearing in a story, this may mean that the symbols are part of an overarching motif, in which case they very likely are related to a theme. Motif: A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of symbols, help reinforce the central themes of a work.
For example, Shakespeare uses the motif of "dark vs. To develop this theme, Shakespeare describes the experience of love by pairing contradictory, opposite symbols next to each other throughout the play: not only crows and swans, but also night and day, moon and sun. These paired symbols all fall into the overall pattern of "dark vs.
Leitwortstil: Leitwortstil is a literary device—less common than motif—in which writers use a repeated phrase to underscore important themes and concepts in a work. A famous example is Kurt Vonnegut's repetition of the phrase "So it goes" throughout his novel Slaughterhouse Five , a novel which centers around the events of World War II. Vonnegut's narrator repeats the phrase each time he recounts a tragic story from the war, an effective demonstration of how the horrors of war have become normalized for the narrator.
The constant repetition of the phrase emphasizes the novel's primary themes: the death and destruction of war, and the futility of trying to prevent or escape such destruction, and both of those things coupled with the author's skepticism that any of the destruction is necessary and that war-time tragedies "can't be helped. Thematic Concepts vs. Thematic Statements A work's thematic concept is the broader topic it touches upon—for instance: Judgement Love Revenge Forgiveness while its thematic statement is the particular argument the writer makes about that topic through his or her work, such as: Human judgement is imperfect.
Love cannot be bought. Getting revenge on someone else will not fix your problems. Learning to forgive is part of becoming an adult. What are the most important moments in the story? How does it end? How is the central conflict resolved? Protagonist: Who is the main character, and what happens to him or her? How does he or she develop as a person over the course of the story? Prominent symbols and motifs: Are there any motifs or symbols that are featured prominently in the work—for example, in the title, or recurring at important moments in the story—that might mirror some of the main themes?
Theme Examples The following examples not only illustrate how themes develop over the course of a work of literature, but they also demonstrate how paying careful attention to detail as you read will enable you to come to more compelling conclusions about those themes.
Themes in F. Plot: The novel takes place in the summer of on Long Island, in a community divided between West Egg, a town full of newly rich people with no social connections, and East Egg, a town full of "old money"—inherited wealth—and people with extensive connections. Nick befriends Jay Gatsby, the protagonist, who is a wealthy man who throws extravagant parties at his mansion. The central conflict of the novel is Gatsby's pursuit of Daisy, whom he met and fell in love with as a young man, but parted from during World War I.
He makes a fortune illegally by bootlegging alcohol, to become the sort of wealthy man he believes Daisy is attracted to, then buys a house near her home, where she lives with her husband. While he does manage to re-enter Daisy's life, she ultimately abandons him and he dies as a result of her reckless, selfish behavior. Prominent Symbol: The Green Light Gatsby's house is on the water, and he stares longingly across the water at a green light that hangs at the edge of a dock at Daisy's house which sits across a the bay.
The symbol of the light appears multiple times in the novel—during the early stages of Gatsby's longing for Daisy, during his pursuit of her, and after he dies without winning her love. It symbolizes both his longing for daisy and the distance between them the distance of space and time that he believes incorrectly that he can bridge.
Prominent Motif: Green In addition to the green light, the color green appears regularly in the novel. This motif of green broadens and shapes the symbolism of the green light and also influences the novel's themes.
While green always remains associated with Gatsby's yearning for Daisy and the past, and also his ambitious striving to regain Daisy, it also through the motif of repeated green becomes associated with money, hypocrisy, and destruction. Gatsby's yearning for Daisy, which is idealistic in some ways, also becomes clearly corrupt in others, which more generally impacts what the novel is saying about dreams more generally and the American Dream in particular. Plot: The novel takes place in the Igbo community of Umuofia in Nigeria.
It provides an account of the clan's traditional way of life, and tells the story of its brave and self-made leader, Okonkwo. When white colonists and Christian missionaries begin to arrive, they undermine the traditional culture and threaten the world Okonkwo has built. Okonkwo is obsessed with embodying the masculine ideals of traditional Igbo warrior culture.
Okonkwo's dedication to his clan's traditions is so extreme that it even alienates members of his own family, one of whom joins the Christians.
The central conflict: Okonkwo's community adapts to colonization in order to survive, becoming less warlike and allowing the minor injustices that the colonists inflict upon them to go unchallenged. Okonkwo, however, refuses to adapt. At the end of the novel, Okonkwo impulsively kills a Christian out of anger. Recognizing that his community does not support his crime, Okonkwo kills himself in despair. Prominent Motif: Sacrifice Throughout the novel, animals and humans alike are sacrificed according to the clan's traditions.
These physical sacrifices also represent the deeper sacrifice individuals make when they suppress their own beliefs and desires to follow a traditional code of behavior. Clanswomen who give birth to twins abandon the babies in the forest to die, according to traditional beliefs that twins are evil. But if you want to take it further, you could also state the theme as a more complex and specific question about that topic. How do gender roles define who we are?
How legitimate is that definition? Are gender roles cultural or innate? What are the consequences of enforcing them and participating in them? But the story never recommends what to do about any of this. Why not? The best stories honor the difficulty of these questions by demonstrating them clearly, with all their maddening mystery and complexity intact, rather than slapping on some half-valid answer.
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