Your Last Lesson on Theme After this you will never forget it.

The Rules I will show you a theme. You will list as many books or movies you can think of that have that theme. You will have to defend your list, so be prepared to explain why that book or movie fits the theme.

What is a theme?

What is a theme? Theme = a main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work that may be stated directly or indirectly.

It’s not a moral A moral says “this is how it should be” A theme says “this is the way it is”

What is a theme? Theme = a main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work that may be stated directly or indirectly. You’re still not sure are you?

Let’s try this anyway. I will show you a theme. You will list as many books, movies, short stories, plays, TV episodes etc. you can think of that have that theme. You will have to defend your list, so be prepared to explain why a title fits this theme.

If you want something bad enough, and work for it hard enough, you can accomplish your dreams

Even when faced with tremendous evil, people can still be good.

When you lose something, go look for it.

Death is an inevitable part of life, but it can teach us a lot.

You may not know people as well as you think you do.

We all have to grow up sometime.

Just because your father goes to the dark side, doesn’t mean he is all bad.

What do these themes have in common?

Are any of them just one word?

Don’t they all say something about life, about being human, about the world?

I noticed something else.

You really need to know what something says, to know what it is saying.

You have to understand the story well to suggest a theme.

Finding theme: Topic + What author thinks about topic = theme