Theme Statement
Writing a Theme Statement
What is a Theme?
- A Theme is a central message of a literary work .
- Is the idea the author wants to covey about a subject
- Expressed as a sentence or general statement about life or human nature
- There can be more than one theme
What is NOT considered a Theme?
- NOT a moral, a directive, or an order why? Because they tell us what to do .
- NOT trite sayings (ex:Loves speaks louder than words)
- DO NOT Refer to specif names or places or events in a literary piece
- NOT just one word (ex: all, none or everything)
What is a Theme Statement?
A Theme Statement is a topic sentence tells you what your going to write about .
- Example of Theme Statement : " Wrong thoughts can lead to revenge ."
- Try to avoid a Theme Statement such as ; " It's wrong to gossip about people."
How To Write A Theme Statement ?
- Read and Analyze the passage
- Identify some main big ideas (at least 3)
- after combining big ideas where they are needed and are appropriate, write a complete sentence saying what the author conveying about each of the Big Ideas
Do's and Don'ts When Writing a Theme Statement.
Do's
- general insight from a characters behaviour
- express theme in own words
- express theme as a general comment
- express the theme as a subject or topic
- express theme as a moral
- refer to specific characters