Theme (literature)

From Freepedia

In literature (as well as many works of nonfiction), a theme is a main idea of the story, or the message the author is conveying. This message is usually about life, society or human nature. Not all stories have explicit themes (they are optional in escapist fiction). However, some readers would say that, because all stories choose certain areas of life to focus on and deal with, all stories inherently project some kind of outlook on life that can be taken as a theme, regardless of whether or not this is the intent of the author. Analysis of changes in dynamic characters can provide insight into a particular theme.

A theme is not the same as the subject of a work. A theme could be expressed in a couple of words like "pursuit of happiness" or "heartache". It is typically a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in a literary work, or in many literary works. On the other hand, the subject of a work is the main idea the writer wants to convey. For example the subject of Green Eggs and Ham is "Not everyone wants to eat green eggs and ham, no matter the location." The theme might be "have an open mind". The term theme may be used in the same way to refer to works of theatre and film.