Clue 3

What is a literary theme? Provide an explanation and then 3 one-statement examples of a literary theme that reveals truth about the universal human experiences.
A literary theme is the general topic the literature is talking about. The theme is a comment based on life or human nature. The theme differs for each literature because not a single literature is the same as another.
- Everyone experiences hatred against another person
- Many experience a moment of betrayal
-All humans fail


What is the theme of your life, as you see it right now?
-The theme of my life is to honor God and to believe in God. God says to obey your parents, so I try to get good grades so that I can please my parents. I also try to get good grades so that I can go to a college that I want to go to.


In your opinion, what is the theme of God's plan for this world?
I think that theme of God's plan for this world is salvation. I think he is going to save the world, because in the past he saved the world several times. He saved humanity by Noah's ark and by sending Jesus down to Earth to die for our sins. I think God is saving humanity by having Jesus sent again to the Earth to die for our sins.


How can you figure out a theme in a short story?
First, we observe the title of the story. We see if the title could give any hints about the theme of the story. Secondly, we observe the main characters of the story. Ask the 5 W's and the how questions about the characters conflict. Third, we observe the climax of the story. We see what the author is trying to tell us with the climax. Finally we look at the resolution of the story. If it the climax had any universal truths, then we see how that affects the end of the story. ( We get all the information we observed, then we come up of a reasonable theme.


What is the theme of "The Utterly Perfect Murder" and how does this theme relate to your own life?
The theme of the "Utterly Perfect Murder" is that forgiving is more important than hating. In this story, when Doug arrived at his friend's house, he was about to murder his long-time friend, but he didn't. Doug didn't kill him because he forgave his friend. Doug walked away from Ralph's house.
I forgave a person when I could have hurt that person. Forgiving is harder but more effective than getting revenge because if we try to get revenge, then we are equally as bad.


How is a moral of a story different from a theme?
A moral is a lesson that is understood from the story. The lesson learned from the story is about the right or wrong of an action. The theme is the topic the story is talking about. A theme is broader than a moral. A theme talks more generally about the whole story, but the morals can be about a specific part in the story.


Read John 3:16. Is this a theme statement for God's story? How does this relate to the truth you might find in literature?
Yes, this is a theme to God's story. In the verse it says that God so loved the world. In literature they mostly write about a universal human experience. Love is an experience that all humans have, so it would be a universal human experience.