Theme 159
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Theme
The theme of a story is whatever general idea or insight the entire story reveals.
In some, stories the. theme is unmistakable. At, the end of.Aesop's fable about
the council of the mice that can't decide who will bell the cat, the theme is
stated in the moral: It is easier to propose a thing than to carry it out. .Ina.work of
commercial fiction; too, the theme (if any) is usually obvious, Consider a.typical
detective thriller in which, say, a' rookie police officer trained msciennfic
methods of crime detection sets out to solve a mystery sooner 'than his or
rival, a veteran sleuth whose only laboratory is carried under his hat. Perhaps
the veteran solves the case, leading to the conclusion (and the theme), "The
old ways are the best ways after all." Another story .by the ..s ame writer might
dramatize the same rivalry but reverse "the outcome, having the rookie ~,
thereby reversing the theme: "The times are changing! Let's shake.loose from
old-fashioned ways," In such commercial entertainments, a th~me.is like a
length of rope with which the writer, patently and mechanically, trusses the
story neatly (usually too neatly) into meaningful shape;
,In literary fiction, a theme is seldom so obvious. That is,a theme Reed not be
a moral or a message; it may be what the happenings add up to, what the story is
about. When we cometo the end of afinelvwrcoght short story such as Ernest
Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" (Chapter 5),lt may be easv to sum
up the plot~to sa¥,what happens-e-but it is more difficult to sumup the .story's
main idea. EVidently;Hemingway relates i::ven~how younger waiter gets rid of
an old man and how an order waiter then goes to a coffee bar..,.....,.but in themselves
these events seem relatively slight, though the story as a whole Seems large (for its
size) and full of meaning. For the meaning, we must look to other 'elements in the
story besides wharhappens in it. And it is clear that Hemingway is most.deeplv in­
terested in the
thoughts and feelings of the older waiter, the character who has
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more and more to say as the story progresses, until at the end the. story is entirely
confined 'to his thoughts and perceptions. What is meaningful in these thoughts
and perceptions? The older waiter understands th~ oldman 'anil, sympathIzes with
hls need for a clean, well-lighted place. (f we' say that, we
still talking, about
what happens in the story..thcughwe have gone beyondmerelv recording its ex­
ternal events. But a theme is usually stated in general words. Anothertry::"Solitary
'~people who cannot sleep need a cheerful, orderly place where they can drink with
dignity." That's a little better. We have indicated, at least, that Hemingway's story
is about more than just an old man and a couple of waiters. But what about the
older waiter's meditation on l'Ulda, nothingness? Coming near the end of the story,
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it takes great emphasis, and probably no good statement of Hemingway's' theme
can leave it out. Still another.try at a statement: "Solitary people need a place of
refuge from their terrible awareness that their lives (or, perhaps, human lives) are
essentially meaningless,' Neither this nor any other statement of the story's theme
is unarguably right.: but at least the sentence helps the reader to bring into focus
one primary idea that HemingWay seems to' be driving at. 'When-we finish reading
itA Clean, Well-Lighted Placet we feel that there is such a theme, a unifying vi­
sion, even-though' we-cannot reduce it absolutely to 11 tag. Like 'some freshwater
lake alive with creatures, Hemingwav's story is abroad expanse, refletdllg in many
directions; No wonder that many readers will view-it in differcUl.t ways; '.'
Moral inferences may be drawn from thest:oryino doubt, for Hemingway is
indirectly .giving· US advice ·for properly' regarding and sympathizing with the
lonely, the uncertain, and the old. But the story doesn't set forth a-lesson that we
are supposed to put into practice. One could argue that "A Clean, Well-Lighted
Place" contains- severtilthemes, and other statements could be made to take in
Hemingway's views of love.of communication between people; of dignity. Great
shortstories, like great svmphonies.frequenrlv-have more-than one theme;' : ..
-.: ·In tnany afine short story, theine is the ce'nter;the moving force, the prin­
ciple of unity. Clearly.sucha theme is something other than the characters-and
events of its story.Tosav'ofjames joyce's "Araby'i!(chaptef8) that it is abouta
boy who goestoa bazaar to buv a gift for a you.ng woman, only toarrive too-late,
is to summarize plctvnot-theme. (The theme might be put, "TheIllusionsofa
romantic child are vulnerable," or-it might be putin ahY ora few hundred other
wavs.) Although the title-of Shirleyjackson's "The Lottery" (Chapter;7),with
irs hint of the lure of easy riches, 'may arouse pleasantexpectations; which the
neutral tone-of the narrative-does nothing to dispel, the theme-the larger real­
ization thatthestorv-leavesuswith-c-has to do-with the way-sin whichcruel
and insensitive attitudes can'cometo seem like normal and rtatitralones"::'
Sometimes you will hear it said that the theme ofa story (say, Faulkner's '
"Bam Burning") is "loss of innocence" or "initiation into maturity," or that the
theme of some other story (Hurston's "Sweat," forinstance] i&"therevolt;of..the
downtrodden," This is to use, theme 41 a ,lar:g~r and. more abstract sense than vve
use it here. Although such general descriptions of theme Can be useful-e-asin
sorting alarge number ~f stories into rough categories-we suggest that, in;
beginning,Y;OJ,1:!9ok for whatever truth or insight.you think the writer of-a-story
revealaTry rqs~it up in a sentence. By doing SO;Y0U viill find yourselflookmg
closelyat mestdryitrying to define its principal mean-ihg~ You may find ithelp.
ful, in makingybil1'~entence-statemento f theme, to consider these points: ',.;,
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once more at the tide of thestory-Fromwhatyou have
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2. D8esthetpafu character. in any way change in the story? Does this
character arfive at any-eventual realization or understanding? Are you
<left'with arty realization or understanding you -did nothave before? '
Chinua Achebe 161
160 Theme
.3. Does the author make any general observations about life or human
nature? Do the characters make any? (Caution: Characters now and
again will utter opinions with which the reader is not necessarily
supposed to agree.)
4. Does the story contain any especially curious objects, mysterious flat
characters, significant animals, repeated names, song titles, or what­
ever, that hint at meanings larger than such things ordinarily have?
In literary stories, such symbols may point to central themes. (Fora
short discussion of symbolism and a few illustrations, see Chapter 7;)
5. When you have worded your: statement of theme, have you cast your
statement into general language, not just given a plot summary?
6. Does your statement hold true for the. story as.a whole, not for just
part of it?
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In distilling a statement oftheme from a rich and complicated story, we
have, of course, no more encompassed the whole story than a paleontologist
taking .a plaster mold of a petrified footprint has captured a living, bron­
tosaurus. Awriter (other rhan a fabulist} does not usually set out with theme
in hand, determined to make every detail in the story work to demonstrate it.
Well then, the skepticalreacler may ask, if only some stories have themes, if
those themes may be hard to sum up, and if readers will probably disagree in
their summations, why bother, to state, themes? Isn't it too much trouble?
Surely it is, unless the effort to state a theme ends in pleasure and profit. Try­
ing to sum up the point of a story in our own words is merely one wayto make
ourselves better aware of whatever we may have understood vaguely and ten­
tatively. Attempted with loving care, such statements may bring into focus
our scattered impressions of a rewarding story, may help to clarify and hold
fast whatever wisdom the storyteller has offered us.
Chinua Achebe
Dead Men's Path
ChinuaAchebe was bom in Ogidi, a villngein east­
ern Nigeria, in 1930. Hisfather was a missionary
schoolteacher, and Achebe had a devout Christian
upbringing. A member of the 100 tribe, the future
writer grew up speaking Igbo, but at the age of eight,
he began learning English..He went abroad to study
at London University but returned to Africa to com- ,
plete his B.A, at the University College of Ibadan in, .
1953. Achebe worked for years in Nigeria~radio.
Shortly after Nigeria's independence from Great Britain
, (1953)1972
in 1963, civil war broke out, and the new nation split in two. Achebe left his job
to jointhe Ministry of Infarmation for Biafra, the new country created fromeasterri
Nigeria. It was not until 1970 that the blOody civil war ended. Approximately one
million IOOs lay dead from war, disease, and starvation as the defeated Biafrans
reunited with Nigeria. Achebe is often considered Africa's ptemier novelist. His
novels include Things Fall Apart (1958), No Longer at Ease (1962), A Man
of the People (1966), and Anthills of theSavannah (1987). ,His short stories
have been collected in Girls AtWar (1972). He has also published poetry; children's
stories, and several volumes of essays, the most recentaf which is Home and
Exile (2000). In 1990 Achebesuffered.massive injuries in a car'accident outside
Lagos that /eft him paralyzed from the waistdown. He-currently teaches at Bard
College in upstate New YOrk. In 1999 he visited Nigeria again after a deliberate
nine-year absence to protest government dictatorship, and his homecoming became
a national event.
Michael Obi's hopes were fulfilled much earlier than he had ex­
pected. Hewas appointed headmaster of Ndume Central School in janu­
ary 1949. It had always been an unprogressive school, so the Mission au­
thorities decided to send a young and energetic man to run it. Obi
accepted this responsibility, with enthusiasm. He had many wonderful'
ideas and this was an opportunity to put them into practice. He had had
sound secondary school education which designated' him a "pivotal
teacher" in the official records and set him apart from the other head­
masters in the mission field. He was outspoken: in his condemnation of '
the narrow views of these older and often less-educated ones.
"We shall make a good job of it, shan't we?" he 'asked his young wife
when they firstheard the joyful news of his promotion.' '
"We shall do our best," she replied. "We shall have suchbeautiful
gardens and everything will be [ust modern and delightful ...". In their
two years of married' life. she had become completely infected by his
passion for "modem methods" and his· denigration of "these old and
~ people in tlie teacti:mg field who would be better em­
ployed as traders in the Onitsha market." She' began to see herself al­
ready as the admired wife ofthe young headmaster, the queen of the
school.
, The wives of the other teachers would envy her position. She would
set the fashion in everything' ... Then, suddenly, it occurred to her that
there might not be other wives. Wavering between hope arid fear, she
asked her husband, looking anxiously at him.
"All our colleagues are young and unmarried," he said with enthu­
siasm which for once she did not share. "Which is a good thing," he
continued.
.
"Why?"
"Why? They will give all their time and energy-to the school."
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, CHINUA ACHEBE
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112 Theme
Determining a story's theme
stating the Theme'
, A clear, precise statement about a story's theme can serve as a promising
thesis sentence. After you' read a short story, you will probably have some
vague sense of its theme-the central unifying idea, or the point of the
story. How do you hone that vague sense of theme into a sharp and intriguing
thesis?
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Start by making a list of all the story's possible themes. If you are discussing
Chinua Achebe's "Dead Men's Path," your list might say:
Old ways vs. new
Tradition vs. progress
Resistance to change
Intellectual arrogance
Warning: pride goes before a fall
Insensitivity to others' feelings
Live and let live
From there, determine which points are most important, and formulate a sin­
gle sentence 'in which you touch on each one. For Achebe, you might have
circled: "tradition vs~ progress," "pride goes before a fall," and "insensitivity to
others' feelings," and your summary might be: "The central theme of 'Dead
Men's Path' is that progress is best made in a spirit of compromise, not by
insensitivity to the feelings of those who follow the old ways."
Remember, your goal is to transcend a mere one-sentence plot summary.
Try to capture the story's essence, its deeper meaning.
.To flesh out your statement into an essay, relate details of the story to the
theme you have spelled out. Like all thesis sentences, yours must stand up in
the face of the evidence. If you encounter elements of the story that seem to
contradict your thesis, you may need to do some fine-tuning. Your thesis, or
statement of theme, should apply to everything in the story. If it doesn't, reeval­
uate, You may have missed some crucial detail, or you may be overlooking the
story's central preoccupation, focusing instead on a peripheral one. If this is the
case, you will need to start from scratch. This happens to the best of writers;
recognizing your own mistakes is an important step in critical thinking.
-/ List as many possible themes as you can.
-/ Circle the two or thre~ most important points and try to combine
them into a sentence: This sentence is your preliminary thesis.
-/ Relate particular details of the story to the theme you have spelled
out. Consider plot details, dialogue, setting, point of view, title:--any
elements that seem especially pertinent.
,-/ Checkwhether all the elements of the story fit your thesis. If not,
reevaluate your thesis;
-/ Have you missed an important. aspect ofthe story? Or, have you
chosen to focus on a secondary idea; overlooking the central one?
If necessary, rework your thesis until it applies to every element i
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Choosea story that catches your attention, and go through the steps outlined above
to develop a strong thesis sentence about the story's theme, Then flesh out your
argumentinto an essay, supportingyour thesis with evidencefromthe text, including
quotations. Some good story choices might be"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," "The
Chrysanthemums,""A Good Man Is Hard to Find," and "The Lottery."
MORE TOPICS" FOR WRITING
1. Define the central theme of "HarrisonBergeron." Is Vonnegut'searly1960s vision
of the future still relevant today? Why or why not?
2. Think of a social trend that worries you. With "Harrison Bergeron" in mind.writea
brief science fiction parable to warn against this danger to society. Try to pick a
lessfamiliaror surprising trend instead of one of the hot-button social issues that
immediately pop into yourmind.
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,3. In' 5,00' words or more, discuss Achebe's views on the modernization of tribal
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Africa and its effects as demonstrated in "DeadMen's Path."
4. A recent Time magazine article describes a young California woman who dis­
, tanced herselffromher Chinese heritage until reading TheJoy LuckClub"turned
her Into a 'born-againAsian.' It gave her new insights' into why her mom was so
hard on her and why the ways she showedlove-say, through food-were diffei;'­
ent from those of the families [she] sawOn TV, who seemedto say'I love you' all
daylong." Have yo'lfever had a similarexperience,in which something you read
.gaveyou a better understandingof a lovedone, or even yourself?