THE THEME Theme: (1 word) Idea: (a sentence) Message: (3-4 sentances) The theme is the inside about life

and human e !erience that an author e !resses in a wor"# The theme e !resses the author$s o!inion or raises a %uestion about human nature or meaning of human e !erience# &t times' the author$s theme ma( not confirm or agree with (our own belie)es# E)en then' if s"illfull( written' the stor( will ha)e a theme that illuminates some as!ect of true human e !erience# & long wor"' e# g# a no)el' ma( contain not *ust one theme' but se)eral# The main theme of a wor" is called h(!ertheme# +ther less im!ortant theme are called h(!othemes# & stor( has a stated (explicite) theme when its author e !resses the wor"$s main isea directl(# e# g# ,oroth($s statement in -.i/ard of +01 ' that 1there is no !lace li"e home1 !lainl( tells us the theme of the wor": E)er(thing we might want can be found at home 2 within oursel)es# An implied (implicite) theme is one that is graduall( re)ealed to the reader through the other elements of the wor"# .e can usuall( find the stor($s im!lied theme b( as"ing the following %uestions: 1).hat ideas about life does the stor($s title sugests3 4).hat do !articular e)ents and conflicts re)eal about life in general3 3).hat might the characters with their !ersonalit( traids tell us about !eo!le3 4).hat )iew of the world do the time and !lace of the action offer us3 5).hat does seeing the e)ents and characters from this !articular !oint of )iew tell us about life3 6).as the author$s !ur!ose in !utting these elements together to sa( something about life in general or to !resent one s!ecial sort of !erson and )iew of life3