THEME

The theme is the main message, lesson or moral of the text.

The theme is DIFFERENT from the topic or plot.

For example, a story may be about an animal (the topic), but its theme is a lesson that readers learn through what happens to the animal.

In rare cases, the theme or moral may be stated at the end of a myth or fable. Most often, readers need to be detectives and think about events and characters to think about the theme.