What is theme? • The life lesson of a story/the moral • The “big idea” • You are never told theme • You must infer theme of a story
Be a detective! • Look for clues in the story: – Character actions – Setting – Plot events – Conflict
Example: • Tim hated his old baseball glove. He wanted to play with a new glove, but he didn’t have any money, so he decided to steal it. But when Tim got caught stealing the glove, his parents said he couldn’t play baseball summer.
What is theme? • Tim shouldn’t steal – focuses too much on story and not thinking BIG • If you want something, • you should work for it • – Bigger idea, not just • tied to story
What about topic? • The topic, is the main idea • This is what the story is about • If you tell someone what a story is about – you are telling them the topic or main idea
Common Topics for Theme • • Courage • Dreams • Kindness • Fears Being Yourself • • Equality Hope Differences Friendship Hard Work Honesty Love • • • Family Jealousy Acceptance Achievement Peace
Theme Vs. Topic/Main Idea • Jealousy • Bravery • Friendship • Julie always wanted everything May had. • Even though James was afraid of heights, he went to the top of the ropes course. • No matter what happened, Eric and Matt were there for each other.
Character traits at beginning: Character traits at end: Conflict/Problem: What is the topic or main idea of the story? Lessons Learned by the character: What is theme/are themes of the story?