Themes and messages

A theme is a big idea that runs through a text: friendship, courage, growing up, power. The theme is not what happens (the plot) but what the text makes us think about life.

Key facts

  • A subject is a word or phrase: ⟦friendship⟧. A theme statement is a sentence about it: ⟦True friends stand by you in hard times.⟧
  • Look at what the main character learns or how they change: that is often the theme.
  • Look at the ending: who is rewarded, who is punished, how characters feel. Endings often show the writer's message.
  • Writers show themes through characters' choices, repeated images and symbols, and the title.
  • A text can have more than one theme. Support each one with evidence from the text.

Worked examples

Example 1

Which is the theme? ⟦A boy finds a lost dog and spends a week finding its owner, even though he wants to keep it.⟧ (greed / honesty / revenge)

  1. He wants to keep the dog but gives it back.
  2. He does the right thing: honesty.

Answer: honesty

Example 2

Turn the subject into a theme statement: ⟦courage⟧

  1. A theme statement is a full sentence.
  2. It tells us what the text shows about the subject.

Answer: ⟦Courage means acting even when you are afraid.⟧

Example 3

How does a writer show the theme of loneliness?

  1. Settings and repeated images can match the theme.
  2. So can what the character does and feels.

Answer: Through details such as empty rooms, silence, and a character who is always alone.