Sunday, March 1, 2020

Theme - Definition and Examples in Composition

Theme s in Composition Definitions (1) In literature and composition, a  theme is the main idea of a text, expressed directly or indirectly. Adjective: thematic. (2) In composition studies, a theme is a short essay or  composition assigned as a writing exercise. See also: Composing My First College Essay, by Sandy KlemFive-Paragraph EssayModels of CompositionTheme WritingWhats Wrong With the Five-Paragraph Essay? See Examples and Observations below. Also, see: EpiphanyMotifPlotThesis Etymology From the Greek, placed or laid down Examples and Observations (definition #1): Simply put, a storys theme is its idea or point (formulated as a generalization). The theme of a fable is its moral; the theme of a parable is its teaching; the theme of a short story is its implied view of life and conduct. Unlike the fable and parable, however, most fiction is not designed primarily to teach or preach. Its theme, thus, is more obliquely presented. In fact, theme in fiction is rarely presented at all; readers abstract it from the details of characters and action that compose the story.(Robert DiYanni, Literature. McGraw-Hill, 2002) Orwells Theme(s) in the Essay A Hanging- A Hanging is [George] Orwells first distinctive work. It gives an apparently objective account of a ritualistic executionfrom fixed bayonets to a bag over the head of the condemnedin which the narrator officially and actively participates. . . . At this halfway point Orwell states his theme: till that moment I had never realized what it means to destroy a healthy, conscious man. When I saw the pris oner step aside to avoid the puddle, I saw the mystery, the unspeakable wrongness, of cutting a life short when it is in full tide. Instead of invoking religion, he asserts a quasi-religious sense of lifes sacrednessthe first expression of the instinctive humanism that characterizes all his work.(Jeffrey Meyers, Orwell: Wintry Conscience of a Generation. Norton, 2000)- A variation on this theme occurs in several of Orwells most famous texts containing epiphanies, moments of illumination in which the humanity of people he has hitherto viewed in terms of dehumanizing generalizations suddenly breaks through, and Orwells perception is jarred as he understands, with a shock, that these are people like himself. . . . In the early sketch entitled A Hanging (1931), Orwell describes how his idea of what it means to kill a man is altered by the Hindu prisoners gesture of stepping aside to avoid a puddle on the way to the gallows. What the text reveals, however, is that the prisoner at first l ooks to Orwell like a mere insignificant object. Into this scene, well defined in terms of the prisoners already marginal existence, breaks the unexpected gesture, making Orwell (or the Orwellian narrative persona) realize that the prisoner is alive, just as he is . . . . This chronicle is generally interpreted along the lines Orwell lays down, as the revelation of the barbarity of execution, but its primary meaning, I believe, is another. An inferiorized human being has for an instant become a genuine person in the eyes of one of the masters.(Daphne Patai,The Orwell Mystique: A Study in Male Ideology. University of Massachusetts Press, 1984) The Themes of the Novel Charlottes Web- Themes are subject to readers interpretation, so different individuals may identify different themes in the same book; the dominant idea or theme, however, should be apparent to readers.Charlottes Web offers many layers of meaning to readers. Younger children are apt to understand this book as an animal fantasy. Older children are ready to apprehend the cycle of life and death, while adults recognize the irony in a situation that gives one character credit for the creativity of another. This is why we recommend using Charlottes Web in the third or fourth grade, when children are ready to understand its major theme.(Barbara Stoodt et al., Childrens Literature:Discovery for a Lifetime. Macmillan, 1996)- Identifying theme is typically a bit more difficult perhaps because theme is often confused with plot summary or motif. . . . Charlottes Web (White, 1952) is a story about a pig whose life is saved by a spider is not a theme statement! It is a pl ot statement. Charlottes Web is a story about friendship is also not a theme statement! Rather, it is a statement identifying one of the most important motifs in the storyfriendship. A theme in Charlottes Web is that true friendship involves responsibilities as well as privileges is a theme statement!(R. Craig Roney, The Story Performance Handbook. Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001)- Besides mortality itself, throughout many idyllic scenes [in Charlottes Web] Andy [White] dabbed colorful spots of melancholy. He translated the song sparrows aria as sweet, sweet, sweet interlude and informed the reader that it referred to lifes brevity. Crickets harped on the same theme. But overall Andys theme was the joy of being alive, of reveling in the moment with visceral attention. What seemed like two themes were really one.(Michael Sims, The Story of Charlottes Web. Walker, 2011) The Difference Between Plot and ThemeIf you sometimes confuse plot with theme, keep the two elements separate by thinking of theme as what the story is about, and plot as the situation that brings it into focus. You might think of theme as the message of the storythe lesson to be learned, the question that is asked, or what it is the author is trying to tell us about life and the human condition. Plot is the action by which this truth will be demonstrated.(Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, quoted by Kenneth John Atchity and Chi-Li Wong in Writing Treatments That Sell, rev. ed. Henry Holt, 2003) Thesis and ThemeThe thesis is the main point you are trying to argue [in a composition]: for instance, that abortion is every womans right or that housing discrimination is wrong. The theme, on the other hand, is a motif established by orchestrated connotative language that reinforces the thesis. Theme differs from thesis in that theme relies on inference and suggested meaning rather than on direct st atement.(Kristin R. Woolever, About Writing: A Rhetoric for Advanced Writers. Wadsworth, 1991) Pronunciation: THEEM

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