So many of the concepts we teach our children have implications far beyond the obvious application. This is certainly the case with literary theme, one of my favorite things to teach.
Early on in the subject of reading, students are focused on developing fluency and comprehension skills. In later elementary or early middle school, however, students should start learning to look beyond the events in the story and identify the ideas communicated by those events.
Most importantly, students can begin to look for the story’s theme – the author’s purpose for writing the story, the message it communicates.
The theme is the central idea of the work, an idea that communicates some “truth” about life. I include quotation marks around the word truth because you may not see as truth what the author represents as truth! In fact, this is a very important aspect of a Christian homeschool – learning to identify what the author is saying through the story and also evaluate that information.
While there are some excellent stories that are not very theme-driven, most stories will have a theme - a central truth that compelled the author to write. This theme will always have some connection to the author’s worldview. Once your child has studied worldviews, it can be worthwhile to identify which worldview(s) a story’s theme is compatible with.
But when it comes to basics is my recommended method for teaching literary theme in your homeschool.
1. Ask, “What is this story about?”
Don’t let your child answer this question with a plot summary. Instead, encourage him to consider the conflicts, characters, repeated elements, imagery, allusions, and other literary devices and elements to determine the ideas lying beneath and within the plot.
Then, fill in the blank of the following statement with one or two words: This story is about __________.
Here are some examples: This story is about – greed, selfishness, love, powerful kindness, loneliness, fear, or growing up.
In a good story, there will likely be several valid options for filling in the blank. Have your child list all the ones that come to mind and then choose the one that represents the story’s most important and central idea. Make sure it’s an idea that runs throughout the story – all the way through the climax – not just in certain parts.
2. Ask, “What is the author saying about that in this story?”
Have your child state this in a complete sentence. This is his theme statement! Read on for some examples.
3. Check your literary theme statement.
Ask your child to revisit the story’s characters and plot. Does her statement seem accurate? Also, make sure she hasn’t used a cliché, even if it seems fitting. She should be able to dig a little deeper and arrive at a statement that is more original and specific.
For the classic short story, “Gift of the Magi,” a student might fill in the blank from number one above with the words generosity, love, and poverty. These would all be valid! However, poverty wouldn’t be the best ultimate choice. The story is really making a statement about love.
When asked, “What is the author saying about love in ‘Gift of the Magi’?” your child might arrive at a theme statement such as this –
Even in the face of poverty, love seeks to be generous.
This statement gets to the heart of what the story expresses about love and sacrifice.
If a student had filled in poverty in step one, he might have come up with a theme statement such as this –
Poverty produces sorrow.
While he could find evidence in the story to back up this statement, it really doesn’t get to
the main idea communicated in the story. Neither does "Love conquers all," which is a cliché. Is it applicable? Sure! But a reader can do way better.
You can see how nuanced this process is, especially for a young person who is new to it! Taking time to “think out loud” with your child, ask thought-provoking questions, and discuss ideas can really help him develop this skill.
While working through this process, he can also learn the value of wrestling with thoughts and ideas to peel back layers and arrive at the vital core. It’s not supposed to be easy! It’s vigorous mental exercise.
That's why literature is such an important area of study. It's rigorous brain exercise that also connects to the heart and provides opportunities to apply spiritual truth. It can make us more empathetic and more in tune with our humanity. What an amazing subject!
Xo,
Christie
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