Theme

Mrs. K. Vega
What is a Theme?

Theme: Life lesson, meaning, moral, or message about life or human nature
that is communicated by a literary work.

In other words
Theme is what the story teaches readers.
Themes

A theme is not a word, it is a sentence.

You dont have to agree with the theme to identify it.

Examples

Money cant buy happiness.

Dont judge people based on the surface.
It is better to die free than live under tyranny.
The Theme can be
Directly Stated or Implied

When a theme is directly stated, the reader is told what the theme of the
selection is.

When a theme of a work is implied, readers think about what the work
seems to say about nature of people or about life.
Common Themes in Literature
The only person you can truly trust is
yourself
It is important to follow your instincts
Man is inherently evil
Man is inherently good
Its not always good to listen to society
Its important to never give up
Human beings are products of their society
Its a crime to kill innocence
The innocent arent always treated fairly
It is important to stand up for what you
believe in
Working as a team or group is more
powerful than working alone
Be careful who you date
Be careful who your friends are
Trust your instincts
Do what you must to survive
Follow your imagination
There are times when you should get
revenge on your enemies
Life doesnt always have happy endings
The force is a metaphor for spirituality
The force is the energy that binds all life
together
Steps to Finding Theme

Think about the title- Are there any clues about the theme?
How did the characters react to conflict / obstacles?
Think about how the conflict was solved.
Think about how the protagonist changes.
Look for ideas that get repeated.
 Once there was a mean little boy who lived in a
small village. This mean little boy loved to mess with
people, so one day he ran up to a sheep herder and
shouted, WOLF! WOLF! A wolf is attacking the town!
The sheep herder grabbed his staff and ran to defend
the town, but realized he had been fooled when the
boy started pointing and laughing at him. Ha ha! I
made you jump, said the boy. Then the boy ran up to
a farmer and shouted, WOLF! WOLF! A wolf is
attacking the town! The farmer grabbed his pitchfork
and ran to defend the town, but when the boy started
pointing and laughing at him, he realized he had been
tricked. As the boy went back to his familys farm
laughing about the funny trick he played, he saw a real
wolf in his fathers chicken coop. As the wolf ate all of
his fathers chickens, the boy screamed over and over
again, WOLF! WOLF! Please help us! But nobody
came to help him.
Example Answers

Dont ask for help unless you really need it.

Dont play tricks on the people around you.