THEME

THEMEWhat is a theme?Life lesson, moral, or message from author

A theme is not a word, it is a sentence.

Examples

Money cant buy happiness.The importance of friendship. If I sayThe theme for this story is

money.happiness. the importance of saving money. love. love between grandfather and grandson.

How to detect themes?Ask yourself these questionsWhat is the message I can get from this story?What do I learn from this story?What does the character learns from his/her actions?What is the author trying to say through the story?

Lets practice!

Tim hated his old baseball glove. He wanted to play with a new glove, but he didnt have any money, so he decided to steal it. But when Tim got caught stealing the glove, his parents said he couldnt play baseball all summer. A monkey put his hand into a jar of cookies. He grasped as many as he could possibly hold, but when he tried to pull out his hand, he was prevented from doing so by the neck of the cookie jar. Unwilling to lose the cookies, and yet unable to withdraw his hand, he burst into tears and bitterly regretted his action. The theme is ___________________________ because ____________________________.The theme is ___________________________ because ____________________________.Now, you are ready to identify themes on your own!