eng 12 -writing on theme.indd - LessonPaths

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How to Write About Theme

(Based on Edgar Roberts Writing About Literature)

How to Discover Theme Themes are not as obvious as characters or setting. To determine a theme, you need to consider the meaning of what you read and then later to develop explanatory and comprehensive assertions about what you perceive the theme to be. As you read, be alert to the different ways in which authors convey themes. One author might prefer an indirect way through a character’s speeches, whereas another may prefer direct statement. In practice, authors may employ any or all the following methods. 1. Study the words of the authorial voice. Although authors mainly render action, dialogue, and situation, they sometimes state themes explicitly to guide us and deepen our understanding. 2. Study the words and thoughts of the first-person speaker. First-person narrators or speakers frequently express themes along with their depiction of actions and situations, and they also make statements from which you can make inferences about the themes. 3. Study the dramatic statements made by characters. In stories, poems, and plays, characters often express their own views, which may be right or wrong, thought-provoking or negligible. When you consider such dramatic speeches, you must do considerable interpreting and evaluating yourself. 4. Study the work’s figurative language. 5. Observe the degree to which characters may stand for ideas which reflect the theme. Characters and their actions may often be equated with certain ideas and values. 6. Consider the work itself as an embodiment of the theme. One of the most important ways in which authors express themes is to interlock them within all parts and aspects of the work.

Writing about a Major Theme in Literature As you begin brainstorming and developing your first drafts, consider questions such as the following. Raise Questions to Discover Ideas (General) • What ideas do you discover in the work? How do you discover them (through action, character depiction, scenes, language)? • To what do the ideas pertain? To the individuals themselves? To individuals and society? To religion? To social, political, or economic justice? • How balanced are the ideas? If a particular theme is strongly presented, what conditions Eng 12 Writing about Theme

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and qualifications are also presented (if any)? What contradictory ideas/themes are presented? • Are the ideas limited to members of any groups represented by the characters (age, race, nationality, personal status)? Or are the themes applicable to general conditions of life? Explain. • Which characters in their own right represent or embody ideas? How do their actions and speeches bring these out? • If characters state themes directly, how persuasive is their expression, how intelligent and well-considered? (Specific) • What idea seems particularly important in the work? Why? Is it asserted directly, indirectly, dramatically, ironically? Does any one method predominate? Why? • How pervasive in the work is the idea (throughout or intermittent)? To what degree is it associated with a major character or action? How does the structure of the work affect or shape your understanding of the idea? • What value or values are embodied in the idea? Of what importance are the values to the work’s meaning? • How compelling is the idea? How could the work be appreciated without reference to any idea at all? Organize Your Essay on a Major Theme As you write about theme, you may find yourself relying most heavily on the direct statements of the author’s voice, or on a combination of these and your interpretation of characters and action; or you might focus exclusively on a first-person speaker, and use his or her ideas to develop your analysis. Always make clear the sources of your details, and distinguish the sources from your own commentary. Introduction. In your introduction, state your general goal of describing an idea and of showing its importance in the work. Your statement of the idea will be your central idea. Body Each separate work will invite its own approach, but here are a number of strategies you might use to organize your essay. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Analyze the idea as it applies to character. Show how actions bring out the idea. Show how dialogue and separate speeches bring out the idea. Show how the work’s structure is determined by the idea. Treat variations or differing manifestations of the idea. Deal with a combination of these (together with any other significant aspect).

Conclusion. Your conclusion might begin with a summary, together with your evaluation of the validity or of the force of the idea. If you have been convinced by the author’s ideas, you might say that the author has expressed the idea forcefully and convincingly, or else you might show the relevance of the idea to current conditions. If you are not persuaded by the idea, you should demonstrate the idea’s shortcomings or limitations. If you wish to mention a related Eng 12 Writing about Theme

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idea, whether in the story you have studied or in some other story, you might introduce that idea here, but be sure to stress the connections. Students in grade 11 should be developing the skill to analyze and discuss theme in multi-paragraph compositions. Their compositions should demonstrate a knowledge of the six principles of theme. Although this paper focuses on short fiction, students in grade 11 English should have the opportunity to write about the themes of longer fictions, plays, poems, and films. By the end of English 11 students should be able to analyze and classify themes from different genres. For example the following ‘student’ compositions could have integrated relevant analysis from a poem “Mother” or the movie Sixth Sense that depict the same theme. An interesting , challenging assignment for students, instead of the dull, deadly 3000 word “term paper” is to pick a relevant theme for senior English students and have them compare and contrast its expression in a variety of genres. For example there are many variations of the ‘teen angst’ theme that could be classified and synthesized this way: “At Seventeen” song by Janis Ian, “Hoods I Have Known” short story in 10 Top Stories, Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger. Students in English 11 and 12 should be focusing on theme as a generalization; they should step back from the story’s events and begin asking questions. What is the most significant experience of the protagonist. In the following English 11 essay is there is a bit of plot summary and character description but this is there strictly to reveal the significant experience of the protagonist. Students in grade 11 should begin looking more and more for emotional and psychological conflict and experience. In grade 11 and 12 fiction there is an increasing emphasis on internal conflict and growth. After they have determined the significant experience of the protagonist students should be asking why the character chose to behave or think the way he did. This reveals motivation. In the “Sound of Hollyhocks’ essay the grade 11 student fails to acknowledge the crucial, toxic effect of the man’s mother. The grade 12 student does recognize this element. The student then steps back from this specific mother-son relationship and produces a valid generalization. His statement as a full sentence is the theme of the story.

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English 12 Theme: The Sound of Hollyhocks (Meets Minimal Expectations) Theme is the main idea of the story . It should be a sentence and should not be contradicted. In the story “ The Sound of Hollyhocks” the young man named Rock is mentally ill. He has a failed marriage and is in a mental hospital. He seems to be really insane because he hears voices: “ most of his time seemed to be listening to sounds pitched too high for others to hear.“ This would make it hard for him to deal with everyday life and relationships with his wife and parents. We learn that his wife and he had problems and she eventually died in a car accident. His parents do not provide much help and he calls his mom the “ Bitch of Belsen.” The theme is about family conflicts and how people can not cope with some problems. In this story the man Rock suffers from a depression that is made worse from his wife’s behaviour. Instead of having a loving relationship we find that they do not get along. His marriage is a source of anxiety and pain instead of comfort. “There had been long, acrimonious squabbles about money, about his parents’ attitudes towards her, about what she called his richboy mentality.” It is suggested that the wife is fooling around on him and she finally breaks it off. I think he really loved her but there is some conflict with his family and it just never works out. “ The first meeting between his wife and his mother proved also to be the last, and Sandra was never again invited to the house.“ Because he goes crazy, he is not able to deal with his problems in a mature way. He doesn’t seem to know why his mother and his wife do not get along. We don’t really know hat the wife’s problem is. She goes off with friends on weekend trips so we never learn what she feels about the husband. Maybe she also is unable to cope with his anxiety so she seeks relief with other people. Every time he seems to be making progress he lapses back into insane thoughts which prevent him from getting out of the mental hospital. “ That evening he had another blackout as he called them, and I heard him talking once again to the flowers, as we lay on our beds waiting for the ten o’clock medication.“ The narrator of the story wants to help but he can’t get through to the guy. “Rock didn’t speak to me at supper, and when I asked him later if he enjoyed his parents’ visit he turned his face to the wall and didn’t answer me.” The character named Rock finally kills himself. The visit from his mother and father did not help him as it should have. It actually made it worse because he relapsed and killed himself shortly after. This demonstrates the theme that our families sometimes can cause severe problems in our lives that could lead to severe consequences. Families should be kind and caring. They should make us feel good about ourselves. We don’t know why his parents set him off but the narrator of the story seems sad that Rock has killed himself.

The above 500 word essay shows some knowledge of theme. There is obvious understanding of character but the analysis is fairly shallow. The writer does not clearly state the theme until the end of the essay and unit is too general. He has not clarified motivation, especially the critical conflict between the mother and son. The writer has not made any attempt to explain how symbol and irony reinforce the theme. This piece would be passable at the grade eleven level as an in-class first draft. The same topic and the grade 12 level would be expected to have definite improvements in introduction, transition, character analysis, synthesis with other works and the writer’s experience, and evaluation.

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English 12 Theme: The Sound of Hollyhocks (Fully Meets Expectations) Short story writers often portray the everyday conflicts of family life. A good short story can present insights into the human mind through the portrayal of family relationships. In the story “The Sound of Hollyhocks”, by Hugh Garner, we discover the poisonous interaction of a man and his mother that eventually contributes to his marriage breakdown and death. The story is a moving portrayal of the truth that sometimes family members can bring, instead of love and comfort, nothing but pain. The narrator of the story is a middle aged man who is in the hospital for acute alcoholism. He meets and tells us the story of “Rock”, a good looking young man who hallucinates and is anything but strong as a rock. The reader soon discovers that Rock , like the final forlorn hollyhocks, had a doomed marriage that was initially hurt by his wife’s failure to meet the expectations of rock’s exacting mother: The first meeting between his wife and his mother proved also to be the last, and Sandra was never again invited to the house. It becomes painfully clear that Rocks insecurity is directly tied to his mother’s negative influence. Each time he makes an attempt at normalcy there is a comment or incident that drags him back to the refuge of insanity. It is a horrible irony that the cause of so much anxiety is the family bond of mother and child which is supposed to bring comfort and joy. Again and again, Garner emphasizes that the cause of Rock’s psychic trauma is “The Bitch of Belsen.” Rock didn’t speak to me at supper, and when I asked him later if he’d enjoyed his parents visit, he turned his face to the wall and didn’t answer me. It is an interesting irony that the narrator does not really grasp this reality. He agonizes over Rock’s sad descent into psychosis but does not acknowledge the negative influence of the mother. This story is a sad portrayal of the dangerous effects of some family dynamics. What should have been the traditional “ mom and apple pie” has, in this story, turned into a poisonous recipe for despair and death. Now at the end of the story Rock and the hollyhocks are both dead.

This essay expresses a more subtle theme statement. It clearly delineates the cause (motivation) of the conflict whereas the first essay simply describes it. Moreover, the second essay introduces the topic in a sharper focus. Moreover, it discusses the use of irony and symbol to amplify the theme. It shows an understanding of the six principles of theme without cataloguing them in a “grocery list” format. The writer also makes intelligent comments on the use of symbol to reinforce theme. He makes a valid reference to the ‘untrustworthy’ narrator who although sympathetic does not grasp the lethal effect of the mother.

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English 12 Theme: The Sound of Hollyhocks (Does not meet expectations) This short story is about a mentally ill guy wo kills himself. He is in a mental hospital and he talks to flowers. We find out that his wife left him but we don’t know why. We don’t know how crazy he was then. The man telling the story calls him “Rock” and listens to all of his problems. He seems to be getting better and better but suddenly he kills himself. He didn’t even like it wen his mom and dad visited. The theme of the story is about people’s pyschological problems. Sometimes people are totally unhappy and we don’t even know why. This guy is totally frustrated and would rather be dead than get out and have to be around his parents again. The story’s theme is about this psychological conflict that makes people depressed and even suicidal. .

The above essay makes a poor attempt to discuss theme. The student has not really recognized the true motivation which leads to suicide. The mother-son relationship is barely acknowledged. There is no direct evidence (or quotes) to develop character or motivation. The actual theme statement is vague, cursory, and over generalized.

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Quick Scale: Grade 12 Writing About Theme This Quick Scale is a summary of the Rating Scale that follows. Writing is usually required to be carefully revised, edited, and proofread. Aspect

Not Yet Within Expectations

Meets Expectations (Minimal Level)

Fully Meets Expectations

Exceeds Expectations

SNAPSHOT

The writing features problems with style, form, and mechanics that make it difficult to determine the purpose and meaning. Reflects little knowledge of theme and writing conventions and techniques.

The writing is generally clear, with a beginning, middle, and end. Development may seem uneven. The writer has difficulty controlling the form and style. Tends to talk about theme rather than identify it.

The writing is clear and carefully developed, with some sense of audience and purpose. Some variety and engaging features. May overexplain in places, telling rather than showing” what the theme is.

The writing creates an impact, with a sense of vitality, economy, and finesse. Features some complex, engaging ideas, language, structures, and techniques. Well-written theme statement.

• little sense of audience

• some sense of audience;

• sense of audience; some

• strong sense of audi-

MEANING

• sense of audience • understanding of the topic • theme • development • support

STYLE

• voice and tone • syntax • word choice • techniques

• • • •

• little awareness of audience • simple sentences and coordination; limited range

• beginning • structure and sequence • transitions • paragraphing • ending

CONVENTIONS

• spelling • sentence structure and punctuation • usage

• •

•

make errors; repetitive as well as colloquial immature style

• beginning unclear • sequencing is often confusing

• few transitions; may seem disjointed

• paragraphing illogical or missing

• weak ending

little impact includes basic understanding of theme easy-to-follow development with a simple understanding of theme simple details, examples, or quotes sometimes linked to support theme statement

• voice and tone may be •

• basic vocabulary; may •

FORM

or purpose (unfocussed) may be too short with few examples and details no clear theme statement inadequate material and understanding of theme details, examples, or quotes not clearly linked to support theme statement

• •

inconsistent some sentence variety; often problems with subordination some variety in word choice; not concise direct, conversational; difficulty expressing abstract ideas

• organization adequate but ineffective • connections among ideas often unclear • transitions awkward; paragraphs not well developed • conclusions often short or formulaic

• •

•

impact clear, focused theme statement clearly and logically developed demonstrating good understanding of theme relevant details and examples support theme statement

• appropriate voice and tone • varies sentences • varied word choice; some complex vocabulary

• some risk-taking to create effects; uses a variety of stylistic or rhetorical techniques

• organization carefully and • • •

• •

• •

• • •

ence; engaging clear if not provocative theme; strong sense of direction efficiently developed around relatively mature understanding of elements of theme; attempts to interpret well-chosen details, examples, and quotations creates and sustains effective voice and tone; may use humour or irony syntactic maturity effective, economical word choice takes risks, often showing originality and inventiveness

• structure appears

logically structure transitions make connections clear comptently developed paragraphing explicit, logical conclusion

natural and spontaneous • well-chosen transitions create unity •effective paragraphing creates continuity • ending has some “punch”

• frequent noticeable

• noticeable errors that

• few errors; these do not

• few errors; these do not

errors in basic sentence structure, spelling, and usage that distract the reader and may interfere with meaning

may cause the reader to pause or reread; often surface errors could be fixed by careful proofreading

affect meaning; appears to have been carefully edited and proofread

distract the reader (may only be noticeable when the reader looks for them)

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