Literature Appreciation a.k.a. LITSPIRATION Meets Short Fiction Part 4: THEME

DISCUSSION PROMPTS: THEME, DAY OF THE BUTTERFLY, THEME STATEMENTS, INTERPRETATION, AUTHOR'S CHOICES

UP NEXT: Analyzing Characters

We ended this week exploring the idea of "theme" in literature, and tried our hand at developing and writing theme statements. We learned that theme statements should be universal, culture-less, precise and concise, and apply to multiple texts, not just the one we are exploring. In other words, a theme statement has to be just right, so it's not an easy thing to determine.

After practicing on "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore," students recorded a roundtable discussion about possible themes in "Day of the Butterfly." Amongst the two classes, we came up with quite the variety of possible themes:

After some discussion, we came to the conclusion that none of these theme statements fits the story, although some come close. 

Remember, in order to develop an effective theme statement you need to understand the protagonist and the protagonist's struggle, and think carefully about the author's intention for creating the text. It's also important to remember that the theme has to fit the entire story, and there must be evidence for your theme in the text.