Theme 主题: the central idea/meaning of a story
- It provides a unifying point around which the plot, characters, setting, point of view, symbols, and other elements of a story are organized.
- In some works the theme is explicitly stated.
- Most modern writers present themes implicitly.
Distinguish between the theme of a story and its subject → 1st reading
- Theme≠subject
- There are some shared identical subjects：fate, death, innocence, youth, loneliness, racial prejudice, disillusionment...
- Yet each story makes its own statement about the subject and expresses some view of life
- There's no single, absolute way of expressing a work's theme, but they do describe a central idea in each.
The emphasis in each of the themes could be modified/expanded
- Readers may differ in their interpretations of a story because of different interesting, complex works are always subject to revision
- but it doesn't mean that any interpretation is valid.
- To be valid, the statement of the theme should be responsive to the details of the story.
Most stories do not include direct caveats(告诫) about the conduct of life
- A tendency of look for a lesson in story can produce a reductive and inaccurate formulation of its theme.
- A good many stories go beyond traditional moral values to explore human behavior instead of condemning/endorsing it.
Strategies to determine the theme of a story → 2nd/ 3rd reading
- Title
- Details that have potential for symbolic meanings
- Protagonist’s changes/development on some important insight of a result of the action
- Formulate the theme using 1 or 2 complete sentences that make some point about the subject matter
- Be certain the theme is a generalized statement rather than a specific description of particular people, places and incidents
- Be wary of using clichés (慎用陈词滥调)as a way of stating themes
- Some stories(that have as their major purpose adventure, humor, mystery or terror) emphasize theme less than others
0 comments:
Post a Comment