1. Subject Vs. Theme

2. Standard
ELACC9-10RL2: Determine a theme or central idea of text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

3. The subject of Night is…
What is the subject?
The topic of a poem, novel, story, movie, song, or any work
What the work is talking about
The subject of Night is…
The Holocaust
Self-Identity
Religion
Resilience
Etc.

4. What is the theme? What the author is saying about the subject
How the author feels about the subject
Insight about a “greater idea”
Idea the author is trying to express
True meaning of the work

5. How do I find theme? Step 1: You have to read it!
Step 2: What happened in the story? Who were the characters? What was the conflict? Summarize!
Step 3: Tell how the characters change during the course of the reading. Good? Bad?
Step 4: How do the plot and the characters connect back to the title or subject?
Step 5: What is the author trying to say about life? What is the meaning of it all?!

6. The Diary of a Young Girl
Step 1:
Step 2:

7. Step 3:
Step 4:

8. Step five: