ENGL3112- Module3 Week1

Theme in Fiction

Title
 Theme in Fiction

The theme is the central message of a literary work. It is different from a topic, which
can be expressed in a word or two: love, friendship, survival, war, hope, etc. Rather,
the theme is the idea the author wishes to convey about that subject. It is usually
expressed as a sentence or general statement about life or human nature. 1

In some stories the theme can be clear. At the end of Aesop’s fable about the council
of the mice that can't decide who will bell the cat, the theme is stated in the moral: “It
is easier to propose a thing than to carry it out”. In literary fiction, a theme is not always
so obvious. That is, a theme need not be a moral, it may be what the happenings add
up to, what the story is about.2 For example, if love is a topic/subject of two novels, a
theme should express the writer’s message about love. A major theme in one of the
novels could be “Love, if taken to extremes, can be negative rather than positive,”
while in the other novel, the theme might be “Love can conquer even the greatest evil.”
The topic/subject is the same, in the two novel, but the messages about that
topic/subject are different in different works. In other words, a theme is a meaning of
a work. Thus, the meaning of a work cannot be love, hate, or greed. This will make no
sense. Those are just topics, not themes. The theme is the statement an author is
making about a topic.

A literary work can have more than one theme, and most themes are not directly stated
but are implied. The reader must think about all the elements of the work and use them
to make inferences, or reasonable guesses, as to which themes seem to be implied.

Theme vs Topic

The “topic” of a piece of literature answers the question: What is this piece about? In
other words, “topic” is what actually happens in the story or poem.

1
Adapted from Laying the Foundation, (n.d.) Retrieved from
http://msyostsclass.weebly.com/uploads/5/6/1/7/56179967/writing-thematic-statmentsomam.pdf
2
Kennedy, X. J, & Gioia, D. (2016) Literature: An introduction to fiction, poetry, dram, and writing. Pearson. P.
204.
You’ll find a lot of overlap between topic and theme examples. Love, for instance, is
both the topic and the theme of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem “How Do I Love
Thee.”
The difference between theme and topic is: topic describes the surface level content
matter of the piece, whereas theme encompasses the work’s apparent argument
about the topic.
So, the topic of Browning’s poem is love, while the theme is the speaker’s belief that
her love is endless, pure, and all-consuming.
Additionally, the topic of a piece of literature is definitive, whereas the theme of a story
or poem is interpretive. Every reader can agree on the topic, but many readers will
have different interpretations of the theme. If the theme weren’t open-ended, it would
simply be a topic (Glatch, 2021).

Summarizing the Theme

In many a fine short story, theme is the center, the moving force, the principle of unity.
Clearly, such a theme is something other than the characters and events of its story.
To say of James Joyce's story "Araby" that it is about a young man who goes to a
bazaar to buy a gift for a young woman, only to arrive too late, is to summarize plot,
not theme. (The theme might be put, "The illusions of a romantic young man are
vulnerable," or it might be put in any of a few hundred other ways.)
Sometimes you will hear it said that the theme of a story is "loss of innocence" or
"initiation into maturity," or that the theme of some other story is "the revolt of the
downtrodden." This is to use theme in a larger and more abstract sense than we use
it here. Although such general descriptions of theme can be useful, as in sorting a
large number of stories into rough categories, the reader is advised to look for
whatever truth or insight s/he thinks the writer of a story reveals.

Stating the theme of a work of literature

1. Begin identifying topics that the story is really about using abstract nouns or noun phrases
(alienation, prejudice, ambition, freedom, love, loyalty, loss of innocence, etc.).
2. Combine those abstract ideas with comments that reflect the author’s observation or idea
about the topic which may reflect the human nature or motivation. In other words, what is
the author saying about the abstract idea? Is he/she, for example, saying something about
the qualities of people and/or commenting on society?
Tips for Identifying Themes3
1. Pay attention to the title. A title seldom spell out the theme, but some titles do suggest a
central idea or help the reader to know the writer’s central vision.
2. List any recurring phrases and words, especially those for abstract concepts (love,
honour) and see what conclusions the story proposes about them.
3. See what characters’ names, imagery, setting and symbols can suggest about the general
idea of the work.
4. If the character changes over the course of the story, articulate the truth or insight that he
or she seems to discover.
5. Identify the conflict depicted in the work and state it in general terms leaving out
references to specific characters. Think about the way the conflict is resolved.

Avoiding the common mistakes in writing a thematic statement

 A theme is NOT a moral, a directive, or an order. A moral/directive/order tells us
how to behave or what to do. A theme observes, weighs, and considers actions and
ideas, but it avoids judging what people should or should not do; therefore, words like
“should” and “ought” are not appropriate in a thematic statement. Also not appropriate
is an order/directive such as “Be nice to elderly people” or “Love like there’s no
tomorrow.”
 Themes are NOT common sayings (clichés, maxims, or aphorisms) such as “Actions
speak louder than words,” “Love hurts,” or “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
 Themes do NOT refer to the specific names or events of a particular literary
piece. A theme does not summarize a work, but it does reflect what happens in the
work. A theme drops character names and uses more general terms like “parents,”
“leaders,” “society,” or “young people” in a general observation about the human
experience.
 Themes avoid absolute terms such as “all,” “none,” “everything,” or “always”
because they indicate sloppy thinking; they are categorical, no exceptions. Terms
like “we,” “sometimes,” or “often” suggest a more realistic view of the variety of human
experiences.

References

Booth, A, & Mays, J. K. (2010) The Norton introduction to literature. New York:
Norton.

3
Booth, A., & Mays, K. (2010). The Norton introduction to literature. Norton, p. 254.
 Glatch, S (2021), ‘What is Theme?’ Retrieved from https://writers.com/common-
themes-in-literature
Kennedy, X. J., & Gioia, D. (2005). Literature: An introduction to fiction, poetry, and
drama. New York: Pearson.
Laying the foundation, (n.d.) Retrieved from
http://msyostsclass.weebly.com/uploads/5/6/1/7/56179967/writing-thematic-
statmentsomam.pdf