Theme; the central meaning of a literary work

According to Holmon and Hunt’s A Handbook to Literature, a theme of a work of literature is “a central idea . . . . the abstract concept that is made concrete through representation in person, action, and image. No proper theme is simply a subject or activity [(i.e., love, war, race)]. . . . Theme . . . impl[ies] a subject and a predicate of some kind–not just vice in general, say, but some such proposition as “Vice seems more interesting than virtue but turns out to be destructive.”

Holmon and Hunt’s definition may seem a little too fancy, but essentially they are saying that a theme is a central idea in a work. You should state a theme as a generalization (a broad statement or principle), and it should have a subject and a predicate. For example, one issue that is addressed in Susan Glaspell’s play “Trifles” is sexism, and how men underestimate and belittle women; however, you wouldn’t state the theme as how men’s underestimation of women is a sign of ignorance. That hits the topic of the work, but it doesn’t express it as a complete thought, with a subject and predicate. In addition, you wouldn’t say the theme is Mr. Peters and the sheriff’s sexist attitude causes their downfalls. That statement does have a subject and predicate, but it is too specific to the work–it is not a generalization. You probably could say that a theme of the work is this: sexism causes a lack of empathy and obscures men’s understanding of women’s motivations, ultimately causing men’s failures. This statement works because it has a subject and a predicate AND it is a generalization that could be supported from evidence in the work. There are certainly other possibilities, but this one could probably be supported from textual evidence.

But how do you determine a work’s theme? Can you figure it out right off the bat? NO!

First off, not every piece of literature has what we might call a theme. Some poems in particular just describe an experience; the writer does not necessarily develop a central idea. If the work is very literal and just seems to describe an event, then it probably doesn’t have a theme (so you probably don’t want to write about it for this kind of assignment).

Determining a theme takes a lot of time and effort. You probably won’t be able to read a work once and then state a theme for it. In order to determine a theme, you basically need to analyze the work (break it down)–you go through the work, break it into its parts, and try to understand the relationships among the different elements like you do in a class. Go through steps like these:

* read the work for the pleasure and for the sound of it
* explicate the work (whether it’s a poem or story)
* look for any uses of symbols or irony and determine their significance
* think about the importance of the title
* separate out all the images that you think are striking and see if there is a pattern among them
* determine what you think is the work’s purpose
* try to explain the relationships among all of these parts of the work


Remember a theme is essentially a general idea that is expressed through these elements, so by understanding the elements and their relationships, you should be able to formulate a theme. 

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Tips for stating a theme:

* make sure your statement has a subject and a predicate;
* make sure your statement is a generalization;
* avoid using clichés like “war is hell” or “love conquers all;”
* try to state the theme simply and clearly, but don’t oversimplify the idea; capture the complexity of the theme as much as you can.
* attempt to develop theme as you read the story or poem;
* create multiple working themes and supply quote/passage examples for each one;
* think deeply about what a story is saying about a specific topic (i.e. love, war, death, race, etc.)

“Developing a theme that is supported by an author’s use of literary devices is a form of literary analysis that I have little experience with.  For previous papers I would support a theme with only evidence from the text. Although I was slightly discouraged after realizing that I needed to do some major revising for my second working thesis, I didn’t lose motivation because I knew that I just needed to get the hang of it! After many peer/teacher reviews, I formed a concise thesis with a solid theme that I easily supported thoughout my paper.” – Carli