Answer: What lesson can be learned from the story? What
does this story mean? These questions are all asking about a story’s theme. The term
theme can be defined as the underlying meaning of a story. It is the message the writer is
trying to convey through the story. Often the theme of a story is a broad message about
life. The theme of a story is important because a story’s theme is part of the reason why
the author wrote the story. The author has a message he wants to share with readers, and
he uses his story as a way to get that message across.
Readers sometime have difficulty expressing their ideas of what the theme of a story could
be. One reason for this is because understanding a story’s theme requires interpretation
on the part of a reader. Another reason may be the fact that a story might have more than
one message. When trying to determine the theme of a story, it helps to remember that
there are many recurring themes that can be found in literature—in other words, the same
theme can appear in many different stories.
When trying to identify the theme in a story, a reader can begin by examining the story’s
conflict. A reader can consider the following questions as she tries to determine the
author’s message:
• What is the problem?
• How does the character confront the problem?
• How does it turn out in the end?
• Why does it turn out this way?
• What lesson is to be learned from the way the character dealt with the problem?
