Variations on a Theme

When looking at individual grains of sand, they may not have any real meaning behind them. And there’s no reason that they should. Individual sand grains look the same, and they don’t seem to have any purpose or relevance to our lives. However, if you were to take a step away from those sand grains and look at them as a whole, you might see a beautiful sand castle.

In literature, it’s important to look at a story as a whole, not simply the sum of its parts. Each piece of the story serves a larger purpose that the reader must unpack and decode. However, much as a sand castle is made of smaller grains, every word in a literary work adds up to a larger point the writer hopes to convey. This larger point is the theme of the work.

Although there are some differences, the theme of a story or a poem works much like a thesis statement of an essay. The theme will usually reflect a main idea that is rooted in the author’s world view. Like a thesis, a theme focuses on the significance of the events that are portrayed in the literary work. However, the reader must interpret the meaning of the story and decide what that main idea ultimately is.

The theme must also be based in a clear understanding of the human condition. Stories and poems are rooted in the world that human beings live in, and reflect an emotional reality that most people are familiar with. Even though most of us will never be a prince or decide the fate of a nation, Hamlet remains an enduring play because the central ideas are timeless. We may not necessarily relate to royalty, but we can relate to Hamlet’s family problems and how he struggles with them. Theme derives from those universal ideas and makes a focused statement about them, either to advocate or to reveal truths about humanity.

Then again, literary analysis is subjective, and there may not always be one clear theme. Alternately, there may be many ways to interpret the events of the story that are equally true in the interpretation. For instance, is A Christmas Carol a simple story of an old man’s redemption, or does it illustrate that one man can make a difference in the world if he or she chooses to? Perhaps there may be an entirely different theme that you see in the events of the story. All of these are valid themes and may be a good starting point for a literary analysis.

However, whichever single theme you focus on, you must support your interpretation with passages from the literary work. Investigate the text closely and decide whether there are quotations that support your proposed theme. Remember that you should never simply summarize the events of a story, but to reveal the story’s meaning through a central theme.

See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! ‘Til then, hang