theme: a message, not a summary what is the difference between theme and summary? why summarize or...
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Theme: A Message, Not a Summary
What Is the Difference Between Theme and Summary?
Why Summarize or Find the Theme?
Summarizing Tips
Tips for Finding Theme
Use the Strategy
Practice the Strategy
Feature Menu
Theme: A Message, Not a Summary
What is the difference between theme and summary?
A theme is the truth about life revealed in a story.
A summary explains what happens in a story.
What happened:Your friend gave you a gift.
What it meant:Your friend cares about you.
Theme: A Message, Not a Summary
What is the difference between theme and summary?
Put an S for summary or a T for theme next to each of the following sentences.
[End of Section]
1. Joaquin and his parents won the lawsuit and lived happily ever after.
2. Things always turn out for the best.
3. Andrea found a buried treasure and became wealthy.
4. Money can’t buy happiness.
Theme: A Message, Not a Summary
Why summarize or find the theme?
Summarizing helps you understand stories, especially those with complicated plots.
It also helps you to share these stories with others.
Theme: A Message, Not a Summary
Why summarize or find the theme?
[End of Section]
Finding the theme helps you understand life.
Often you can apply the themes from literature to your own experiences.
Theme: A Message, Not a Summary
Summarizing Tips
You can come up with a good summary by using these four words: Somebody, Wanted, But, So. Look at the following summary of one of Aesop’s fables:
(a dog) another dog’s bone, he didn’t realize that the other dog was his own reflection, he jumped to get the other dog’s bone and lost his own.
wantedbut
so
Somebody
Theme: A Message, Not a Summary
Summarizing Tips
Follow these steps to use the Somebody, Wanted, But, So strategy.
First, ask yourself who is the most important somebody in the story.
Second, ask yourself what that somebody wants.
Theme: A Message, Not a Summary
Summarizing Tips
Follow these steps to use the Somebody, Wanted, But, So strategy.
Next, ask yourself what happens to keep the character from getting what he wants.
Finally, ask yourself what was the outcome of the story.
Theme: A Message, Not a Summary
Tips for Finding Theme1. Summarize the
story.A dog wants another dog’s bone, but he doesn’t realize that the other dog is his own reflection, so he jumps in to get the other dog’s bone and loses his own.
2. Ask yourself, “What message or truth have I gotten from this story?”
I’ve gotten the message that wanting more than what you have can be dangerous.
3. Turn your answer into a statement of theme.
Greed can leave you with less than you had at first.
Theme: A Message, Not a Summary
Use the Strategy
As you read “The People Could Fly,” you’ll find this open-book sign at certain points in the story: . Stop at these points and think about what you’ve just read.
Stop and
think.
Answer the
question.
[End of Section]
Theme: A Message, Not a Summary
Practice the Strategy
Use the following organizer to take notes for a summary of “The People Could Fly.”
Somebody Wanted But So
Theme: A Message, Not a Summary
Next, look at your summary and think about the story’s theme.
Practice the Strategy
Now finish one of the theme statements or write your own.
• Freedom is a result of . . .
• You can be free if . . .
Theme: A Message, Not a Summary
The End