Notes: Subject and Notes: Subject and ThemeTheme

English 1English 1

Subject/Topic/Idea

Subject: the topic of a work of literature Examples: love, war, racism, WWII, fruit,

peace, etc.

Theme Middle school

definition: a message or lesson of a work of literature

High school definition: a discovery of a truth about our own human experience expressed in a complete sentence

Theme No two readers state

a theme in exactly the same way

All readers do not have to see the same theme in a story

A reader does not have to agree with the theme of a story, but it is always able to be proved w/evidence from the text

Examples: 1) Love is not

always enough to make a relationship last.

2) Torture and fear of death can be used to control people.

3) Perception is reality.

Universal Theme Universal theme: a

theme which occurs over and over again in many works of literature

Examples: 1) Don’t judge a

book by its cover. 2) Love conquers

all. (these are clichés & are

brief examples only; yours will be much more complex & thoughtful)

To sum up

A theme is an idea that has been placed into a complete sentence and expresses a proveable truth about the work.

It is different from a phrase or word; these are thematic ideas, but they are not THEMES.

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