Answer:
The Reefs by Marcella Morris
1. The theme develops from the conflict or the central problem that is being confronted. It can also develop from the character, especially the character's qualities, actions, responses, and changes which the character makes in the situation.
2. Sophie was confronted with the problem of solving a crucial environmental issue. The coral reefs were facing possible extinction. She could not receive some support from her college professors, as they refused to provide their expertise, withheld their moral support, and did not supply her with the resources that she required (e.g. laboratory time). But, Sophie did not give up. She singularly decided to do something and was able to follow through despite the discouraging challenges. At last, she came up with the solution because of her indomitable spirit.
Explanation:
What is a theme? A theme of a story or an event is the lesson that can be derived from the story or event. It is not the sequence of events that make up a story, which is known as the plot, but the message or the bone of the story. The theme develops from the conflict or the central problem that is being tackled. The lessons that are learned in tackling the conflict or problem are the themes.
Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize stands in front of a room full of important government people; he wants his audience to recognize that being indifferent is not the same as being innocent – indifference, “after all, is more dangerous than anger or hatred”.
He forces the listeners to wonder which kind of people they are. To him, during the Holocaust, people fit into one of “three simple categories: the killers, the victims, and the bystanders” and he forces the bystanders to decide whether or not to stay indifferent to the actual situation. He takes the time to list various actual civil wars and humanitarian crises (line 17 of his speech) and contrast them with WWII.
He makes sure that his audience realise what is at stake “Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment” [for mankind]. He wants the audience to be really affected by what they hear – so he talks to them in their condition of human being: “Is it necessary at times to practice [indifference] simply to … enjoy a fine meal and a glass of wine”. And he also talks to them as government people with their duty and the power they have over the actual conflicts. He wants them to compare themselves with their predecessors during WWII: “We believed that the leaders of the free world did not know what was going on … And now we knew, we learned, we discovered that the Pentagon knew, the State Department knew.”
Wiesel finishes his speech by expressing hope for the new millennium. We believed he addresses these final words to those who will refuse to stay indifferent. But it seems that Wiesel would count them in the minority: “Some of them -- so many of them -- could be saved.” probably refers to this minority.
