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1、writer, which in modern criticism we generally call “theme”. I. What Is Theme? One of the safest comments to make about novels is on the theme. Everyone is entitled to extract a theme based upon his understanding of the novel. Theme may be the most democratic elements in literature, because its defi
2、nition is the least restrictive. The theme of a novel is its controlling idea or its central insight. Being an idea or an insight, the theme should be abstract and it should generalize about life. Labeled as controlling or central, the theme should be capable of unifying the whole novel. So the them
3、e of a story, then, is whatever general idea or insight the entire story reveals. II. Clarification about Theme Common as it is, theme suffers some misunderstandings. One misconception about theme is that each novel has a theme or themes, or theme is important to all novels. In fact, some novels, in
4、teresting ones though, do not provide any insight into life. For example, many novels of ratiocination and novels of horror. These novels are aimed at entertaining the reader, not at improving his understanding of life. They may sometimes touch upon the human nature or social problems, but these iss
5、ues are only used to push the plot forward and they are not mentioned for their own value. Theme exists only in the novel that seriously attempts to reflect life faithfully or intends to reveal truth about life, or in the novels that are based on ideas or theories of life. (for example, novels of id
6、eas). Another misconception about theme is that the theme is largely what the novel is. Some people discard the novel when they think that they have got the theme. It should be made clear that the novel is not written to convey an idea but to convey an idea artistically. The novel is a work of art w
7、hereas the theme is only an abstract idea. An analogy from daily life may help clarify this question. People all need vitamins and get them from various kinds of vegetables and fruits. Only those with deficiency of one kind or another have to take vitamin pills to get the required amount. The differ
8、ence between the theme and the novel is much like that between the vitamins and the vegetables. The reader sometimes finds that the theme of a novel is similar to or even the same as what he has already known about life and that he is still fascinated by the novel. Theme appeals solely to the intell
9、ectual level of reading while the novel as a whole mainly appeals to the emotional level. Another pitfall concerning the theme is to confuse a theme with moral or lesson. Usually, a moral or a lesson is the advice stated or implied in a parable or fable. It is something of a rule by which one can re
10、gulate his behavior. For example, “Be kind to your neighbors,” or “Honesty is the best policy.” But a theme is more complicated than this as a novel is to enhance ones awareness of life rather than simply to tell him how to behave. A novel is a complicated matter and different readers may have diffe
11、rent interpretations of the same novel, so it is incorrect to presume that one novel has only one theme. In some cases, there are several subthemes to the main theme. In reality, some novels are appreciated for their thematic ambiguity. For example, Moby Dick can be interpreted in more ways than one
12、. Finally, the theme is not to be confused with the subject. The theme is an idea while the subject is a matter or an affair. “Love is invincible” may be a theme, but “love” is only a subject. A subject may be universal. The subjects of The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, and Women in Love are all
13、 “love.” But these novels have different themes. A theme is particular to its novel, though there are many similar themes to be found in other novels. III. Five Requirements for Stating a Theme The statement of a theme may be brief or long. And there are different ways to express one and the same th
14、eme. But it should meet the following requirements. A theme must be expressed in the form of a statement with a subject and a predicate. For example, “Love of ones country often inspires heroic self-sacrifice.” If a theme is expressed in the form of a phrase, then the phrase must be convertible to s
15、entence form. One can say that the theme of a novel is “futility of envy.” The phrase can be changed to “envy is futile.” When one chooses to state a theme in the phrase form, he must be very careful about its convertibility to sentence form. For instance ,the phrase “selfless maternal love” does no
16、t always mean that “maternal love is selfless.” The theme is generalization about life based on the novel, and the statement of theme should be true also of other people or life situations. Therefore, names of characters and places should not be mentioned, for they suggest specific things and invite limitations. So in thematic discussion of Wuthering Heights, one may mention “peoples psychology of revenge,” but not “Heathcliffs.” Though a theme is a generalization, over-generalizatio
