Whether for a school project, or for your own personal writing study sessions, it is useful to have the ability of identifying the theme in a story.
Yet no matter how simple this trick is, it seems as if there is always someone out there complicating it for themselves. Well then, how about I show you how I usually go about determining the theme so easily yeah?
To find the theme in a story, I usually try to analyze 6 elements of the story; character, setting, plot, POV, stakes and central conflict. The easiest is the character, where you observe the main character’s flaw and use that to determine the plot. Then, you can observe the setting, and try to see the recurring problems the world brings, and that could hint at the plot.
You can also look at the plot, and try to see how the main character deals with the hurdles. This could be the theme. You can observe what is at stake if the character loses, and that could be the theme. Finally, you can look at the central conflict. What’s the core battle in the story? How is it fought, and for what? That could be the theme.
Again, I am aware this is not too specific. That’s what we have all these lower bad boys for. So, why don’t we just get into:
What Is An Example Of A Theme In A Story?
A theme is the central opinion that the writer holds on what the best way to live life is.
This idea found in ‘The Anatomy of Story’ by John Truby is the best way to understand theme if you wish to identify it more in the story.
When you understand theme as the writers opinion, you understand that it does not necessarily have to be write or objective. Then when you understand that it is their idea on what the best way to live life is, you will know why some character’s suffer, and others succeed.
Those who succeed I’ve their lives in the way that the writer believes is best, and those who don’t succeed failed to do what the writer thought is best to do.
Examples
Consider the movie Scarface.
Our main character rises the ranks in a drug empire, ending up as the boss. But that is not enough for him. In the end, his ambitions lead to him being killed. So what could he have done to survive?
Well, if he had been content with his life as it was, and been humble it would have helped.
So we can then conclude the theme is ambition. How ambition can be dangerous, and harmful. How it is best to live a “normal” life instead.
A simple technique yo ca use to identify theme is the naming technique. Just use one word to describe the writer’s opinion, and you will know what the theme is. Theme examples can be things like; love, justice, family, honor, compassion, carefree, or hardworking.
An example of how these could manifest is in How to Train Your Dragon.
In the story, the main problems the characters face is dragons killing them, so they want to end that. The only way they manage is when they learn to accept the dragons, and love them. This leads to the dragons accepting and loving them, and concludes with all of them living together in peace and harmony.
That is a theme example.
How do I Identify The Themes?
1. You Could Listen To The Dialogue For The Theme
The first technique you could use to determine is to listen to key phrases in dialogue.
Sometimes the theme of the story is so easy that the writer can just have the character repeat the word that describes the theme over and over again.
So the first technique to try and identify the theme is to listen to the dialogue in the story. You could easily use some sort of app to count the most recurring word, and that right there is your theme (obviously it won’t be ‘the’, since I’m sure that will come up a lot in Angles).
Sometimes though, the theme is not repeated throughout the story numerous times.
Instead, it is said in the most heated moments of the plot. For example you could have the villain dramatically look at the hero and say, “I did it for the reason everyone else does what they do. Revenge.”
And boom. Your theme right there is revenge, even if it was said only at that point in the movie.
So the first technique is to pay attention to the dialogue. The word said most frequently, and the words said at the most heated parts of the story are the themes.
2. Observe The Character Arc To Find The Theme
The second technique you could use to identify the theme is observing the character arc.
This one is a bit more complicated then the last, but it works about 3 out of 5 times.
Basically, look at your lead character’s flaw, and false belief. What lesson must they learn, and what flaw must they overcome in order to defeat the villain? Must they become less selfish, or more bold? Must they become more forgiving, or more decisive?
Look at what your main character is at the beginning, and look who they become at the end of the story, then ask what they had to do to become that. What element did they have to change in themselves?
More often then not, that would be your theme right there.
Think of a character who is selfish, and does not like spending money. Then the story. Then the story ends with them buying things for other people. They had to become more giving. So the theme is something like compassion, giving or community.
3. Observe The Setting For Signs Of The Theme
The next technique you could use to identify the theme is to observe what the setting of the world is.
Sometimes, the world is a character in the story too.
Think of how Gotham is always described as a character by critics of Batman. In this way, the world also faces things like problems. So the world also has it’s own necessary character arc, much like how the other characters in the story have their own character arc.
So, what can you observe in the setting in order to identify the theme?
You need to observe the physical problems that the characters are facing, and you need to observe the more emotional problems they face.
The physical problems are the most obvious.
Maybe the characters are facing something like poverty, crime, or corruption. That could be a massive part of the theme in the story. We can all clearly see the characters suffering from these things, and so it makes sense for the theme to be related to these things.
So the theme could be something like poverty, crime or corruption. However, sometimes these themes can evolve, as the physical environment could incite certain emotions in the characters.
The emotional problems usually derive from the physical environment.
Consider shows where there is a zombie apocalypse, or a sort of dystopian situation. What does this situation result in the character’s feeling? Maybe the characters feel helpless, and abandoned. Or they feel censored, and constantly observed.
Whatever that single word could be that is used to describe the character’s emotions due to their situation, that could be the theme.
So if ever you find your story has a rather striking setting, then you should know that there is something about the setting which points to the theme.
4. Observe The Plot
Another technique you could use to identify the theme of the story is to observe the plot of the story.
Story plots can give of the impression of being very diverse, especially when you look across genres.
If you were to look at a romance, a mystery, an action movie, and a drama story, you’d think that there is very little connecting these plot wise. In the action movie, the main character fights the villain and progresses the pot with physical violence. In the mystery, they fight the villain, and they progress the plot through investigation.
In a romance, they do not even fight, instead, they try to be together. Finally, in a drama, there are issues that they must deal with in order to get to live together in peace.
However, all these stories are the same.
These stories feature the main characters wanting something, then coming to contact with an obstacle.
They must then overcome this obstacle, either through violence, investigation, diplomacy, or seduction. Then, they must again progress, only to meet another problem. In order to find the them of the story, you need to look at what the character’s use most to overcome their problems.
In stories, scarcely is the prescribed genre the proper means of dealing with a problem efficiently.
Basically, in an action movie, violence does solve the problem for a moment, but it keeps coming back. The character has to do something else in addition to stop it for good. Maybe they have to relent, or intensify. In which case the theme would be compromise, or commitment.
Look at what the characters have to do in the plot, on top of the genre specific prescription, in order to permanently deal with their obstacles.
5. Observe The POV
Another technique that could help find the theme is to try and observe the theme of the story.
This one is fairly simple.
Just look at whose perspective we are following the story from. Who are they? And more specifically, what are they? If we are following the story through the lens of a child, then the theme probably has something to do with childhood.
If we are following the story through the eyes of a doctor, or a journalist, then the story probably has something to do with the health care system, or journalistic integrity. Or maybe it is just a commentary on work life.
Sometimes, the story could be taking place from multiple POVs.
This could symbolize something like communal trauma. If the story is taking place from a POV character who can’t seem to concentrate on a single thing, then the story could have a theme about mental distress, or something of that nature.
So, you can look at who we see the POV character from, and you could look at what we see specifically from the POV character.
6. Observe The Stakes To Find The Theme
Another fairly simple technique you could use is to observe the stakes.
Ask yourself what is at stake in the story? What will the hero lose if they fail to succeed in the story?
If it is a story about a boy fighting not to go to boarding school then we know the theme of the story is something like family, since they don’t want to go to boarding school because they will miss their mother and father.
Just try to look at the consequences of the heroes’ failure, and you will find yourself your theme.
7. Observe The Central Conflict To Find The Theme
The most complicated technique is to try and observe the central conflict of the story.
The last way you could try and identify the conflict of the story at its core.
What is the main character, villain, world, POV, stakes, and the plot trying to tell us? In order to find this, you can try to use a simple break of technique.
At about 75% of the story, which is where the story is darkest, cut of the story there, and pretend that’s the ending of the story. What would the message of the story be?
Basically, what would the readers say you are endorsing. Would they say you are trying to say the world is a place where there is no point in working hard? Because that’s where the main character’s suffer a defeat after giving their all to try and achieve their.
The opposite of what readers would assume of you is the theme. In this case, the theme would be never give up, or work hard.
Once you have mastered this, you will be that much closer to mastering mastery.
