Thinking About Theme

Since we are getting close to the end of our Blogging Bliss, I have decided to sort through the remainder of this work on literary elements and cover the sections, which I found the most helpful. So I will move away from the promised blogs on setting and move to the last section of the book, which covers the element of theme.

“Theme is where all the other literary elements come together to give a story's ultimate reward and fulfill its consummate purpose.” p 153 A great theme is something we can transfer to our lives. It can transform us and help us grow.

Authors Smith and Wilhelm point out that there is more to theme than the moral or gist of the story. They describe theme as a rich understanding, expressed through a crafted work of art but applicable to life beyond the work, and situated in an ongoing cultural conversation that tests and complicates it. Pg 155.

What theme is not – a one-work topic: love, war, friendship. Why not? Because these are topics from which many themes can be generated. What about love? What about friendship? Understanding the topic is only the halfway point. We must understand the topic and the conversation. Thinking of theme as a conversation is what we need to do. If a group at a party is discussing education we may feel that we are able to join the conversation. However, they folks could be discussing any number of ideas regarding education and we may or may not be inclined to want to jump into.

Throughout this text the authors have proposed that we teach literature by structuring units around essential questions. These questions are about ongoing disciplinary debate or cultural conversations.
This is where theme comes in. Rich and complex works of art will contain multiple themes, both major and minor. For example while teaching Romeo and Juliet as part of an inquiry unit on what makes or breaks a relationship, students came up with themes like “love stinks,” “love is always changing,” and “deceit causes all human problems” as they progressed through the text.


What should teachers do to help their students be successful in finding themes?

· Help students recognize the existence of ongoing cultural conversations and place their reading in those conversations – by using essential questions.

· Help students see the importance of coherence and develop and name useful coherence strategies – recognizing and making inferences and understanding genre patterns.

· Create an environment where students feel free to discuss and accept or reject the author's themes. For example one of our classmates mentioned that their students struggled when they were told that the theme of Romeo and Juliet was that we are controlled by fate. I would too. I don't see it that way at all. Nevertheless, let's day for the sake of the argument that this was Shakespeare's intent. As a reader we must have the right to disagree with the idea that we are controlled by fate and to argue that we have the power of self-control and that our decisions bring about consequences.

“Figuring out theme is a challenge but it is one we can help students meet." pg. 164

In the next blog we will discuss how to connect theme to student's lives using simulated texts, fables, collages, paintings, and precious objects.