There's been some contradictions as I've begun studying this subject. At first I read several articles that stated theme was: “Theme essentially concerns the lessons, the wisdom, the morale contained within a story.” It's the author expressing their opinion on something. Themes are things like “love” “War” “Survival” Then I read an article that said theme is not the moral, it's not an opinion, it's a question. “War” is not a theme it's a subject. Theme is not abstract is a specific question that is explored. Theme is the question asked about the subject. I wish I had links of this articles but this was all research from a while ago. I've also noticed others seem to say theme is an abstract word. Which one is correct? Thanks
That's how I've always used it, and I've never been corrected. Of course that isn't proof I've used it correctly, it merely implies that others have accepted my usage of 'theme.'
This is my way of thinking this subject: Plot is what put's character growth to happen. Character growth is the positive change in the character of a character. (Usually protagonist.) Theme is the subject matter where this growth happens + what kind of change happens. You could call this growth as lesson learned. It might be wisdom, morale... or something else. Almost always it does have a moral dimension. If you seek where and how happens the change from reactive to proactive, you find theme. Except of course in Pink Panther, because there theme is always... Love, war, survival... are not themes. Love your enemy. Identity politics leads to war. If love survives, we survive. Those could be themes.
cosmic lights, despite appearances, I think both articles could possibly be correct. A story set during a war (any war) offers war as a subject. A story in which people (as many as you like) fall in love offers love as a subject. If a story develops so that two soldiers on opposite sides of a war (somehow) fall in love, the theme could be 'love conquers all' - so it would be a 'love' story. It explores the subject of love and offers the reader a perspective (a theme). If the story develops so that two soldiers fall in love and then one (somehow) shoots the other and can't live with the guilt, the theme could be 'war is senseless' - that would be a 'war' story (subject and theme). Love would also be subject and theme, in that love takes place (subject) and the story proposes that love can supersede self-preservation (theme). Hope that makes sense.
I don't give theme much thought and I'm not sure how useful it really is for a writer to do so. I think your first example makes a lot more sense than the second. I've seen literary journals put out themed issues and "War" was one of the themed issues Tin House did a few years back. But I don't believe an author has to strive to get any sort of message across. Themes often emerge in our writing without us always being aware of it. I think that's a better approach than trying to teach a lesson or wrap up a story with any kind of moral. Trying to hard at anything can show. I've got some possible themes going on in my novel, but I'm not going to sidetrack the story to explore them. They'll be there if they're supposed to be.
JUST finished reading Stephen King's book On Writing. It's actually worth reading even if you don't particularly like his books. (I'm not a particular fan myself.) One of the things he talks about is 'theme.' He said the best way to do theme as a writer is to write your story without thinking of theme at all. Get the story out there. Then, when you're finished the entire first draft, and had a break from it (he recommends at least 6 weeks), go back and read it again. This time ask yourself, ''What's the big 'truth' underlying the story?" That's your theme. He said it's no big deal if you don't find a theme, but if you do find one, then you can go through the story and strengthen it, during your edits.
I haven't figured it out much myself. I think it's a little like how you treat a subject/topic. Like say you want to do a story on anorexia. That would be your vague theme to start with but once you do you're first draft and look it over your theme could be narrowed to … the correlation between anorexia and beauty standards. And once you realize that and work with it the personal story of your character could take on a bit more depth and I don't know kinda stand for something. I sort of do this where I start with a vague theme and then during my next draft I decide whether or not that's still the theme or something better has come along. I started with creative jealousy for my project by there's been a few others that cropped up that might be more interesting.
When I think about theme, I ask one question: What is the story about? It's not necessarily the moral or the message. It lies beneath the external. It might be love. It might be war. It might be morality. It might be life. It is woven in the text and can be interpreted in a multitude of different way depending upon whose reading it, but it encompasses the general idea of the story. So take for example a story is about a pair of old boots that have been passed down from generation to generation, and in the end, the boots are worn out. On the surface, the story is about the boots, but when you're looking at theme, the story may be about life, death, labor or even all of these things and the boots are used as a symbol to communicate this.
I always thought of a theme as a constant feature or thread in the story. If your MC lost his family. What does he do to get them back? That would apply to lost his job or health or pick your poison. I guess it would also apply to a man or woman on a quest. The quest would be the constant feature even if there was a lot happening to the characters as far as being in jeopardy or maybe they had shown growth in character or strength.
I've always believed there are two ways of defining Theme. One is simply naming the underlying subject of the story. War, peace, love, etc. Two would be identifying the 'lesson' the story 'teaches'—or the author's attitude towards the subject. War resolves nothing. Peace is illusory. Love conquers all. (Love is illusory) etc. I know when I was a student, back a million years ago, when we were asked to find the 'theme' of a story, it was always number Two above. That required deeper engagement with the story than just identifying overall subject matter. That kind of theme is not usually evident till the reader reaches the end of the story. (Probably what the teachers had in mind when giving us a 'find the theme' assignment—we had to actually READ the danged book!)
Hello, friend. Maybe is altogether. For example, if the theme of your story is about love, you can't just talk about love in general, because even that word for some may mean nightmare, disaster, stress; which implies morality and choice. And consequential can lead to questions like, what is love? What makes us humans love someone or something? And themes connect the more stuff we put in our projects,
Someone on this forum - I forget who, so unfortunately I can't give credit - had something along these lines in their sig: "Theme is when someone insists your story is about inequality in the Russian Revolution when you thought it was about sexy vampires getting it on."
This is oversimplified, but I think of theme as a pattern. We humans find patterns where there sometimes aren't any (conspiracy theories), and connect the dots in unexpected ways. Theme is this being done to your story. It's something you can keep in mind as you think about setting, mood, plot, characters, and motif. And as Nige said above, you'll think your story is about the corruption of youth, and a reader may think it's how extremism can turn virtues to vices. In most cases there are many themes that can be found in a given work. Three people look at a cloud. One sees a cloud, another sees the face of Jesus, and the other sees a penis. That's theme.
