Identifying Theme

When we attempt to identify the theme of a work of fiction we are attempting to formulate in our own words the statement about life or human experience that is made by the total work. The task is often far from easy because it necessary involves us in the analysis of a number of elements in their relation to one another and to the work as a whole. Part of the value of attempting to identify theme is that it forces us to bring together and to understand the various aspects of the work; in this process we may notice things we had previously ignored or undervalued. We will be successful in the task to the extent that we are willing to be open-minded and objective an resist the temptation to pay attention to some rather than all elements of the work, or, what is worse, to read into them what simply is not there. The identification of theme, then, is a way to validate our understanding, to focus our response and to make the work finally and fully our own.

The ideas that constitute a work’s theme may be relatively commonplace ones that easily fall within the framework of our own experience. They may also be fairly complex and abstract somewhat hard to understand and put into words – either because we have not encountered them before of …. They relate to concepts that are in themselves inherently difficult. Some themes are …… (that is, they involve ideas that are valid only in relation to a specific time and place, or to a specific set of circumstances); others are universal in their application. On some occasions the theme may be explicitly stated by one of the characters (who serves as a spokesman for the author) or by the author in the guise of an omniscient narrator. Even though such explicit statements must be taken seriously into account, a degree of caution is also necessary – for, as we know, characters and narrators alike can be unreliable and misleading. In many cases, however, theme is not stated but rather implied by the work’s total rendering of experience; it is only gradually revealed through the treatment of character and incident and by the development of the story. This is particularly true of works in which theme is tied to the revelation of character and takes the form of a statement about that character and/or what the fate of that character may imply about people or life in general. Because different kinds of works will yield different themes in different ways, there is no one correct approach to identifying theme. The following suggestions and comments, however, may prove helpful.

1. It is important in considering theme to avoid confusing it with the work’s subject or situation. Theme is the abstract, generalized statement or comment that the work makes about a concrete subject or situation. It is also true that unless we are first successful in establishing the subject, or establishing the work’s basic situation, we are unlikely to be able to establish its theme. Begin then with the subject or situation; once that is identified, we are in a position to formulate a thematic statement about the work.

Take the case of Hawthorne’s My Kinsman, Major Molineux. Its subject, young Robin Molineux, is easily enough identified. We will then want to ask ourselves a series of questions about what happens to Robin in the course of the story. What visible changes take place in his situation, in his character, or in both? What does he discover and learn as the result of his experiences? To what extent does Robin represent a kind of everyman figure whose urban adventures have symbolic or allegorical implications? Now we are in a position to propose a theme for the story and, having done so, to defend our thesis in the form of a critical analysis that will relate all the significant aspects of the story – especially character, event, and point of view – in support of our interpretation.

2. We must be as certain as we can that our statement of theme does the work full justice. There is always the danger of either understanding the theme by failing to discover its total significance or of overstating and enlarging it beyond what the elements of the story can be shown to support, and thus making the work appear more universally applicable than it is. The danger of the latter is probably greater than the danger of the former. Authors, like all intelligent people, know that universal, all-embracing statements about life are frequently refuted by the experiences of individuals, and they will usually restrict their claims accordingly. They know that there are very few generalizations about experience that will hold true under every circumstance. Authors also know that most of the really important questions about human existence do not yield easy, formalistic answers. As readers we must be careful not to credit literary works with solutions and answers where such issues and questions are only being explored or where only tentative answers are being proposed.

On the other hand, there is a danger of not seeing the full thematic significance of a work. We fail to grasp a work’s total implications by being inattentive in our reading. If we ignore the final two pages of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, or skim them in the belief that all is said and done, then we might be tempted to say that the theme of the novel is the danger of founding one’s idealism on false gods, as Gatsby does in his belief that he can recapture the past by regaining Daisy Buchanan. At one level, at least, it is certainly true that this is the novel’s theme; it is the author’s implied comment on the situation that we have watched unfold through Nick Carraway’s eyes. But in those final two pages Fitzgerald deliberately gives his theme (and his book) a much wider implication by deliberately equating Gatsby’s dream with the American continent, “the last and greatest of all human dreams.” In this way, the theme of The Great Gatsby becomes Fitzgerald’s statement about the failure of the American Dream itself.

3. We defined theme as a “statement about life that unifies and controls the total work”; thus, the test of any theme that we may propose is whether it is fully and completely supported by the work’s other elements. If our statement of the theme leaves certain elements or details unexplained, or if those elements and details fail to confirm our statement, then unless the work itself is flawed, chances are we have been only partially successful in our identification.

4. The title that an author gives the work often suggests a particular focus or emphasis for the reader’s attention. Frequently, the title of a work serves to identify the work’s protagonist or essential character (The Darling, A Hunger Artist, A Rose for Emily, King of the Bingo Game). Titles may also provide clues about theme. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness refers not only to the uncharted center of Africa, the “dark” continent, but to the capacity for evil or corruption that exists in the human heart, a title relevant to both the plot situation and the theme of Conrad’s story. As usual, however, titles can be as deceptive or misleading in their relation to theme as to anything else. The title of Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations, for examples, is clearly ironic, for Pip can reach maturity only after he renounces his “great expectations” and the false assumptions and values upon which they are based.

5. As readers get more and more involved with literary study they want to know about the life and personalities of the authors they read. Biographical and autobiographical explorations are helpful and illuminating – as are the personal statements as author makes about his or her life and work in prefaces, letters, journals, notebooks, and critical writings – and they can tell us a great deal about the author, the times in which he lived and wrote, and the relationship between the author and the work. They can also tell us something about the author’s intentions. Although there is a great and natural temptation to take the author at his word (for what is that word, really, but a type of expert testimony?), conclusions about theme that are erected on the authors’ own statement need careful evaluation. Authors, especially when writing in retrospect, are often as fallible as the rest of us in explaining motive, and in some cases may be the least reliable of guides as to what their work finally means. D. H. Lawrence is certainly correct in this respect, when he reminds us in his Studies in Classic American literature (1923), “Never trust the artist. Trust the tale.”

Analyzing Theme

1. Does the work have a theme? Is it stated or implied?

2. What generalization(s) or statement(s) about life or human experience does the work make?

3. What elements of the work contribute most heavily to the formulation of the theme?

4. Does the theme emerge organically and naturally, or does the author seem to force the theme upon the work?

5. What is the value or significance of the work’s theme? Is it topical or universal in its application?