Essay on THEME
...tory constitutes theme. The theme of a story may be stated very briefly or at greater length. The theme may be summed up in a simple sentence, a paragraph – or sometimes even an essay. A rich story will give us many insights into life. Stating the theme in a sentence requires the central insight, the one that explains the most elements in the story and relates them to each other. Any successful story will modify and expand this statement in various and subtle ways, requiring more than any one-sentence statement. The function of the interpretive writer is not to state a theme but to verify it. He delivers it to our intellects, our emotions, our senses, and our imaginations. The theme of a story may be little or nothing except as it is embodied and vitalized by the story. Sometimes the theme of a story is explicitly stated somewhere in the story, either by the author or by one of the characters. The writer’s first objective is to reveal life. The good writer doesn’t ordinarily write a story to “illustrate” a theme, as does the writer of parables or fables. The story is written to bring alive some segment of human existence. When this is done coherently, theme arises naturally. The themes of commercial and quality stories may be identical, but frequently they are different. Commercial stories satisfy readers’ wishes. Therefore, the themes of such stories are widely accepted platitudes of experience, which may or may not be supported by the life around us. The interpretive writer is likely to question these beliefs and challenge them. The themes of his stories therefore don’t correspond to sentiments heard in movies or on television. Instead, they represent somber truths. Discovering and stating a theme of a story can be a difficult task. Sometimes we will feel what the story is about, but have a hard time putting these feelings into words. The attempt to state a theme will reveal to us aspects of a story which we should otherwis...