Question

Consider what you have learned about subject and theme in literature. What is the subject, and what is one central theme in this story? How does the author introduce and develop this theme throughout the text?

Answer 1

Answer:

The subject of the story is the experience of a young boy named Kevin dealing with his home life as well as his schoolwork. The author describes an incident in which Kevin's teacher punishes and humiliates him for not knowing the right answers.  

One of the central themes of the story is that a father's love can protect and support children when they are going through problems or hard times. For example, the author shows the deep and loving bond between Kevin and his dad when he describes how much the children love having their father home from work and how Kevin's father tries to help him with schoolwork.

The author also develops this theme by invoking the motif of the father's coat pocket, which is warm and deep, just like his father's love:

His father smelt strongly of tobacco for he smoked both a pipe and cigarettes. When he gave Kevin money for sweets he'd say, "You'll get sixpence in my coat pocket on the banisters."

Kevin would dig into the pocket deep down almost to his elbow and pull out a handful of coins speckled with bits of yellow and black tobacco. His father also smelt of porter, not his breath, for he never drank but from his clothes and Kevin thought it mixed nicely with his grown up smell. He loved to smell his pajama jacket and the shirts he left off for washing

Kevin laughed and slipped his hand into the warmth of his father's overcoat pocket, deep to the elbow.

Explanation:

Answer 2

What do you think the poem, "Solitude" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox seems to be saying about the golden rule?