Reading and Responding to Fiction: Theme and Author's Purpose

Reading and Responding to Fiction: Theme

A theme is a message or moral in a text; it is a universal truth or idea about life and the world overall. It is more than just a topic such as childhood; it is a revelation or realization about that topic; there are usually multiple themes in a text. 

Ex. 

Topic: Childhood

Theme: One truth that Where the Wild Things Are illuminates about childhood is that children need to feel some control and power in their lives; they also need to be nurtured and close to their families. The story shows that imagination and fantasy can help children gain this power. 

Guidelines for analyzing theme:

· avoid cliches and broad generalizations that may not be entirely true such as: 

oMax teaches us that you should always listen to your parents. or 

oThe lesson is don't yell at your parents.

· instead, think about the more subtle complexities and individual lessons within such broad generalizations; be specific:

oFantasy can help children deal with and overcome their rage.

oAs stated by Mikaela Conley, one message in this text is that "The power of art, imagination and daydream allow children to turn traumatic moments into vehicles for survival and growth." 

Determining theme is not easy and takes lots of thinking, rethinking, and rereading. When writing about theme, it is important to come up with drafts and versions and continuously rewrite and revise these statements.

It is also important to support your theme with textual evidence.

Readers can stop and determine theme when:

· characters feel strong emotion

· characters make important decisions and choices

· something is unfair or morally wrong

· characters disagree about an issue

· characters act out of character

· something important is not being said, being purposely omitted

· narrator or character is somewhat preaching or giving suggestions or advice

· narrator or character is reflecting on an important moment 

· author lingers on a moment or object

· ideas are repeated

· you reach the end of a section, chapter, or book

Sentence starters for stating theme (when writing and discussing):

· Sometimes people... but instead they should...

· I learned from ___________ that in life it is important to...

· Even if... you should...

· This story teaches us not only about... but also about...

· At first I thought... but now I think...

· Something that is true in the story that is also true in the world is...

· This text makes me wonder / makes me realize / reminds me...

· A not-so-obvious / ambiguous / concealed theme is...

· The author wrote this to...

· The author wants me to think... but I think...

Sentence starters for elaborating on theme:

· This is shown in...

· This applies across the characters because...

· This is important because...

· One part where the author communicates this idea is... 

· A part of the text that makes me think this is...

Activity: Individually, write a theme from "Faithful Elephants" on a post-it then share and discuss it with your group.

Homework/Independent reading: read and take notes to track themes in your text. Your next reading response should be on theme.

For further reading:

Articles about Where the Wild Things Are: 

· http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/05/08/maurice-sendak-the-pointed-psychology-behind-wild-things/

· http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/2012/0508/Where-the-Wild-Things-Are-author-Sendak-wrote-to-communicate-profound-truths

Article about themes in The Hunger Games: 

"The Hunger Games Themes That Apply to Our World Today."