Download THEME WORK Theme is the central idea in the work—whether

Mr. Herberg – AP English
THEME WORK
Theme is the central idea in the work—whether fiction, poetry, or drama.* It is the comment
the work makes on the human condition, which can be subdivided into four general areas of
human experience:
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The nature of humanity
The nature of society
The nature of humankind’s relationship to the world
The nature of our ethical responsibilities
A good theme answers questions such as these: Are human beings innately “sinful” or
“good”? Does fate (environment, heredity, circumstance) control us or do we control it? What
does a particular social system or set of social practices (capitalism, socialism, feudalism,
middle-class values and practices, genteel country life, urban life, rural life, bureaucracy,
religious practices or views) do for—and to—its members? What is right conduct and wrong
conduct, and how do we know?
Although finding a theme for a work is an attractive way to give a work meaning, there
are many pitfalls to searching for meaning. For example, theme is not the same as the subject or
topic of a work. The subject is what the work is about. You can always state the subject in a
word or phrase. The subject of Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 116” is love. In contrast the theme is
what the work says about the subject.
The statement of a work’s theme requires a complete sentence, and sometimes several
sentences. The theme of “Sonnet 116” is “Love remains constant whether assaulted by
tempestuous events or by time.”
Second, a theme must apply to people outside the work. It is incorrect to say that the theme
of “Rip Van Winkle” is “Rapid change in his environment threatens Rip’s identity.” This
statement is true, but it is not the theme. You must state the theme in such a way as to include
people in general, not just the characters in the story. A correctly stated theme for Rip Van
Winkle” would be “Rapid change in environment causes many people to feel their identity
threatened.” Stating theme in a work means you move from concrete, particular situations
within the work to generalizations about people outside the work. You assume that the
meaning of the work provides insight into at least one of the four general areas of human
experience. In this way, literature becomes a form of philosophy—universal wisdom about
the nature of reality and humanity.
Sometimes theme is the presentation of a problem rather than a moral or message that neatly
solves the problem. For example, Robert Penn Warren’s novel All the King’s Men raises the
problem of morality in politics. A question the novel seems to ask is, How can political leaders
in a democratic society do good when citizens are so apathetic and easily misled? In these
instances, it is best to summarize as accurately as you can the problem the author presents and
how it works out in the work, but you might not be able to generalize from that particular
illustration of the problem to all people’s lives.
*Adapted from Writing Essays about Literature by Kelley Griffith
Mr. Herberg – AP English
Questions about Theme:
 What is the subject (that is, what is the work about)?
 What is the theme (that is, what does the work say about the subject)?
 In what direct and indirect ways does the work communicate its theme? Conflict,
characterization, irony, figurative language, tone, point of view, setting, plot, prosody,
diction, syntax, organization, rhetoric, metaphor, symbolism, allegory, etc.
A good strategy for discovering a work’s theme is to apply questions about the four areas of
human experience. Here are some suggestions:
The Nature of Humanity
 What image of humankind emerges from the work?
 What image of humankind emerges from the way the author presents characters?
 Can you tell if the author thinks people are ‘no damned good” (Mark Twain’s phrase)?
 Can you tell if the author shows people as having redeeming qualities?
 If people are good, what good things do they do?
 If people are flawed, how and to what extent are they flawed?
The Nature of Society
 Does the author portray a particular society or social scheme as life-enhancing or life
destroying?
 Are characters we care about in conflict with their society?
 Do they want to escape from it?
 What causes and perpetuates this society? Are their any contributing causes?
 If this society or institution is flawed, how is it flawed?
The Nature of Humankind’s relationship to the world.
 What control over their lives do the characters have?
 Do they make choices in complete freedom?
 Are they driven by forces beyond their control?
 Does Providence or some grand scheme govern or, perhaps, bless history?
 Is history simply random and arbitrary?
 Does the work offer a tragic vision of the world—that is, a sense of meaningless,
despair or absurdity to existence—that finds solace in a religious vision of spiritual
gain or knowledge through suffering or pain?
The Nature of our Ethical Responsibilities
 What are the moral conflicts in the work?
 Are the morals clear cut or ambiguous in the work? Or the choices both right, which
often leads to ambiguity? Are the choices both wrong? Is there a right choice and a
wrong choice?
*Adapted from Writing Essays about Literature by Kelley Griffith
Mr. Herberg – AP English
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What moral choices oppose each other?
Does the right (moral choice) win in the end?
To what extent are the characters to blame for their actions?
To what extent are the characters responsible for the final outcome?
The Moral Center of the Work
 Who serves as the moral center of the work? Who is the one person whom the author
vests with right action and right thought? Who is the one character who seems clearly
“good” and who often serves to judge other characters?
 What does the author do to identify this person as the moral center?
 What values does the moral center embody?
 Is the moral center flawed in any way that might diminish his or her authority?
 What effect does the moral center have on the other characters and on us, the readers?
 Nota Bene: Not every work has a moral center. If that is the case, which character
comes closest to the golden moral center but fails? What force, trait, or lack of virtue
accounts for his or her failing?
REVIEW: Thinking on Paper about Theme
 Explain how the title, subtitle, epigraph, and names of characters may be related to
theme.
 Describe the author’s attitude toward human behavior.
 Describe the author’s attitude toward society. Explain the representation of social ills
and how they might be corrected or addressed.
 List the moral issues raised by the work.
 Which of these, if any, are not successfully resolved?
 Which passage (provide the page number and a one sentence summary) more than any
other states the major theme or themes of the work?
Quotations Worth Remembering or Using
Provide 3 to 5 quotations that are noteworthy or that reveal a significant theme. After
the quotation, write a commentary sentence that helps illustrate its meaning and that
reveals or asserts an idea/theme in the work.
Binary Oppositions
Provide 3 pairs of binary oppositions that reveal a significant theme. After the
quotation, write a commentary sentence that reveals or asserts an idea or helps
illustrate the meaning of the binary pair, thus highlighting a recurring pattern of ideas
in the work.
*Adapted from Writing Essays about Literature by Kelley Griffith