Theme: the central idea, or insight, about life or human behavior that a story reveals

Theme Examples

• Living a simple life leads to greater personal freedom.

• The deepest loneliness is sometimes felt when we are among friends.

How do you find the theme?

• In most stories, the theme is not stated directly. Instead, it is revealed to us through the characters’ experiences.

• The subject is simply the topic. It can be stated in a single word, such as loyalty.

• The theme makes some revelation about the subject and should be expressed in a sentence: “Loyalty to a leader is not always noble.”

How to Write a Theme Statement

• Must be ONLY one sentence.

• Do NOT include words such as “I” or “you” (people, one, society, an individual, etc.)

• Express what you learned from the text; avoid using a cliché! (overused expression)

• Use effective, powerful words (word choice always matters)

Textual Evidence

• You need to prove your theme by going back into the text and finding evidence that supports what you are saying. Then you explain why that evidence supports your theme.

• You can cite or paraphrase your evidence.

• Cite: use the author’s exact

  words

• Paraphrase: putting something into your own word