TOPIC: Language Arts/Literature PART 2:

EQ: How Do I Identify and Analyze Theme?

A theme is a truth about life that you while reading.

When you are asked to identify and analyze the theme of a work, you will need to:

2)trace causes and effects in the story

3) make generalizations

1)Make inferences

1) Making Inferences About Stories!

Combine your own experience with the clues in a story to help you make an inference, or educated guess, about the story’s theme.

*Use Story Clues

The lessons that a character learns can be a clue to the theme.

Some titles give more clues about plot than about theme.

•Which scenes or events seem most significant?

• Does the story’s title reveal anything important?

• Has the main character changed during the story?

To make inferences, ask yourself these questions:

What ideas about life do they suggest?

•characters’ comments and actions

•ideas that seem important

As you read, take notes about:

Study Characters too!

Take Notes

What—if anything—does the main character learn?

2) Identifying Cause and Effect in Stories can Help you find THEME!

Experience tells us that one thing leads to another.

A cause is an event that makes something happen.

An effect is what happens as a result.

To help you identify causes and effects, ask these questions as you read:

• Why did this happen?

• What happened because of this event?

As you read, look for words that signal cause and effect, such as

Identifying Cause and Effect

Sometimes one cause in a story will have many effects.

Identifying Cause and Effect

Tracing Cause and Effect

What is a casual chain ?

In other stories, one event triggers a causal chain.

Each event causes another event, like dominoes falling in a row.

Finding the Theme

• Is this really how people are?

• How could I put this view of life into words?

Once you figure out the theme, you’ll need to say it in your own words.

Say It Your Way

Be sure to express the theme as a complete sentence—not a word or phrase.

Finding the Theme

Some things in life are more important than money.

Greed

is a subject.

is a theme.

STOP HERE PLEASE!

Remember:A theme can be stated in different ways.

Some things in life are more important than money.

Greed can blind a person to the important things in life.

A story can have more than one theme.

Be careful what you wish for—you just might get it.

Sometimes we don’t appreciate what we have until it’s taken from us.

Finding the Theme

Quick Check

1. A family travels to Alabama and faces hardships along the way.

2. Prejudice

3. Facing your fears is the only way to overcome them.

4. Happiness can be found in the joys of ordinary life.

Decide whether each item states a plot, a subject, or a theme.

Finding the Theme

[End of Section]

Identifying Cause and Effect

These events are a causal chain.

A generalization is a broad statement that covers several situations—that tells about something in general.

Making Generalizations

1. Mystery novels are book-length works.

2. The main character is usually a detective or other crime-solver.

3. The writer gives many clues but does not make it easy for the reader to solve the mystery.

Generalizations about Mystery Novels

For example, if you read a lot of mystery novels, you could make generalizations about them:

Be careful of making generalizations without enough information. Base your generalizations on multiple experiences—on all the facts you can get.

If you read just two mystery novels and made the generalization “All mystery novels are set in London,” you would be incorrect.

Making Generalizations

The generalizations you make while reading can help point you to a work’s theme.

Ask yourself what general ideas the events of the story suggest.

Making Generalizations

Why might stating a theme also be a kind of generalization?

A theme expresses something that applies to real life in general—not just to a particular work of literature.

Based on these events from Greek mythology, what generalization can you make about the Greek gods and goddesses?

Making Generalizations

Quick Check

1. Arachne boasts that she is a better weaver than the goddess Athena. Athena turns Arachne into a spider.

2. Sisyphus tricks Hades, the god of the Underworld, and Hades forces him to spend eternity pushing a huge rock up a steep hill.

3. When Prometheus steals fire from Zeus, Zeus has him chained to a rock, where an eagle constantly eats his liver.

[End of Section]

Your Turn

1. List two strategies that can help you find the theme of a story.

2. Create a chart that identifies cause-and-effect relationships in the following scenario:

You sleep through your alarm, are late for school, miss a test in English, stay after school to take the test, and miss a chance to see a movie with friends.

3. Based on the scenario in number 2 and your own knowledge and experiences, what generalization can you make about oversleeping?

How Do I Identify and Analyze Theme?

The End