ENH 110: Theme

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ENH 110 Theme
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Definition
Theme it is the controlling idea or central
insight of a piece of fiction. It is the
unifying generalization about life stated or
implied by the story. It is often synonymous
with a storys purpose. Theme exists only (1)
when an author has seriously attempted to record
life accurately or to reveal some truth about it
or (2) when an author has deliberately introduced
as a unifying element some concept or theory of
life that the story illuminates.
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Daddy, the man next door kisses his wife every
morning before going to work. Why dont you do
that? Are you kidding? I dont even know the
woman. Daughter, your young man stays until a
very late hour. Hasnt your mother said anything
to you about this habit of his? Yes, father.
Mother says men havent changed a bit.
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Ways of discovering theme
1. Explore the central conflict and its outcome
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Ways of discovering theme
2. Ask in what way the protagonist has changed
in the course of the story and what, if anything,
he or she has learned before its end.
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Ways of discovering theme
3. Consider the title of the story as providing
an important clue.
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Ways of discovering theme
4. Does the story contain any significant symbols
which may point to a central theme?
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Ways of discovering theme
5. Does the story contain any significant symbols
which may point to a central theme?
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Margaret Atwood
Born 1939 Biography
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Metafiction is a type of fiction which
self-consciously addresses the devices of
fiction. It is the term given to fictional
writing which self-consciously and systematically
draws attention to its status as an artifact in
order to pose questions about the relationship
between fiction and reality. It usually involves
irony and is self-reflective. It can be compared
to presentational theatre in a sense
presentational theatre does not let the audience
forget they are viewing a play, and metafiction
does not let the readers forget they are reading
a work of fiction.
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Possible theme for Happy Endings
Spoofing fictional techniques, some authors may
effect significant points that many narrative
endings are unconvincing and inauthentic and
that mortality is the central fact of human
existence, implying that possibilities are more
pleasant than actualities, beginnings are always
more fun. These abstract themes can be made
accesible in a comic fashion. .
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Those who embrace modernity--progressive internati
onal standards, rigid rationality-- to the
exclusion of customs deeply rooted in emotion and
intuition and who do not make an attempt at
tolerance and sensitivity for the formers
beliefs when in confrontation, may effect a
terrible cost upon themselves and others.
Progress is best made in a spirt of compromise,
not by insensitivity to the feeings of those who
follow old ways. (top of p. 185, Kennedy and
Gioia)
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Genuine virtue requires the power to forgive.
or True goodness
requires love and compassion, not just outward
virtue.
or There is more joy in finding what was lost
than there would be in merely keeping it.
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Apollo Dionysus sun
earth/moon ego id psyche eros stoic
Epicurean mind heart reason
emotion thinking feeling order
chaos restraint excess male
female hierarchy equality science
art system spontaneity compulsiveness
impulsiveness city country classicism
romanticism civilization nature
John as representative of the patriarchal society
of the 19th century
The narrator as representative of the forces of
an impending feminist movement
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Possible theme for The Yellow Wallpaper
Unable to tolerate the tediousness of an ascribed
role defined by a dominant patriarchal
society--passivity, submission, sexual
repression, emotional and psychological subjugatio
n, the stifiling of creative energies--some
women may try to escape from its imprisonment,
even at the risk of physical or psychological
damage.
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Theme for The Lesson
One of the lessons to be learned on the road to
maturity is that there are lessons to be learned,
that an open mind and a little humility may show
one the way out from the confines of complacency.
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Theme for A Worn Path On our journey
through life, even though our mental and physical
capabilities begin to fail, we may maintain our
dignity and humanity if we are pertinacious in
our overcoming obstacles that keep us from
displaying true love and charity to others.
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Theme for Eveline Having to
make a choice between an existence characterized
by tedium, opprobrium, and confinement and one
which offers only an ambiguous promise for an
escape from the formers paralysis, some people
may see the unknown future as a more formididable
obstacle and retreat to a life of commonplace
sacrifices, (par 16) marked by passivity and
dreariness.
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Theme for The Lottery Essentiall
y decent and kindly people may perform cruel,
irrational actions due to their unquestioning
acceptance of traditions and customs that have
lost their original meaning or ground for belief.
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Theme for Hunters in the Snow
Some human beings, especially when isolated in a
natural, bleak setting, may shed their socially
constructed humane traits and become as primitive
and predatory as the most unevolved natural
creatures, forming symbiotic alliances--devoid of
charity or love-- purely to further their own
gains.
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Theme for Pauls Case Because the
inner beings of some people are too fragile to
carry the ever-increasing weight of what they
perceive as frightfully oppressive real world
problems, they may escape to even ultimate
fantasy world solutions for throwing it off.
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Possible theme for A Rose for Emily
If the spirit of youthful exuberance is unable to
find release due to the forces of
oppressiveness, its energy may later manifest
itself in a need to be secluded and in a steadily
evolving eccentric pertinacity that at once may
evoke pity and horror--both shrouded by the
mystery inherent in reclusivity.
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Theme for Miss Brill written by Thomas Arp
Isolated elderly people, unsupported by a network
of family and friends, may make a satisfying
adjustment through a pleasant fantasy life, but
when their fantasy is punctured by the cold claw
of reality, the effect can be devastating.
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Everyday Use Theme by
Thomas Arp (both)
A person whose honesty and tolerance have long
made her susceptible to the strong will of
another may reach a point where she will exert
her own will for the sake of justice. or
Ingrained habits may be given up if justice makes
a greater demand.
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T. Coraghessan Boyle
Born 1948 Biography
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Possible Theme for Greasy Lake based on an
analysis of the primary conflict narrator vs.
himself
The various experiences young adults have on
their road to maturity may lead them to unleash
violent passions, confront their own mortality,
and recognize the need for an exploration of self
as well as a recognition of human limitations
these lessons, perhaps due to careless
behavior and a distraction of their ideals,
often, if the people are not obdurate, provide
them the strength to move from innocence to
potentiality.
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Kurt Vonnegut
Born 1922 Biography
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"... dystopian fiction looks at totalitarian
dictatorship as its prototype, a society that
puts its whole population continuously on trial,
a society that finds its essence in
concentration camps, that is, in
disenfranchising and enslaving entire classes of
its own citizens, a society that, by glorifying
and justifying violence by law, preys upon
itself. ... dystopian society is what we would
today call dysfunctional it reveals the lack of
the very qualities that traditionally justify or
set the reason for existence of a community."
(Erika Gottlieb's Dystopian Fiction East and
West Universe of Terror and Trial)
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"A dystopia is any society considered to be
undesirable, for any of a number of reasons. The
term was coined as a converse to a Utopia, and
is most usually used to refer to a fictional
(often near-future) society where current social
trends are taken to nightmarish extremes.
Often, the difference between a Utopia and a
Dystopia is in the author's point of view.
Dystopias are frequently written as warnings, or
as satires, showing current trends extrapolated
to a nightmarish conclusion. A dystopia is
all too closely connected to current-day
society." (Wikipedia On-line Dictionary)
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Possible Theme for Harrison
Bergeron based upon the conflict between Person
vs. Society
Those societies which are intent on embracing
extreme legal egalitarianism due to a distrust of
intellectuality may perversely condemn and
penalize all individual freedoms, all striving
for excellence, including good looks, physical
grace and imagination.
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Jack London
1876-1916 Biography
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Possible theme for To Build a Fire
Even though nature is an anatagonist that is a
vastly unequal one, some people, because of an
inherent sense of nobility-- or ignorance--will
challenge it, often forgetting the margin of
error needed to overcome their insignificance in
the face of overwhelming odds.
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Elizabeth Tallent
Born 1954 Biography
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Possible theme for No Ones a Mystery
In a illicit relationship between a younger woman
and an older married man, where a balance can
be seen between infatuation and cynicycism, any
mystery about the participants intentions may
be revealed by the temporaneousness of their
affair this could, through disillusionment,
lead to a coming of age experience that marks
her enrty into a new awarenes of herself. .
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