Theme vocabulary list
Ambition
Revenge or Retribution
Appearance vs. Reality
Ritual or Ceremony
Custom or Tradition
Scapegoat or Victim
Betrayal
Search for Identity
Bureaucracy
Social Status
Courage or Cowardice
Supernatural/Time/Eternity
Women and Feminism
Journey
Cruelty and Violence
War
Defeat or Failure
Despair/Discontent/Disillusionment
Chance/Fate/Luck
Domination or Suppression
Dreams and Fantasies
Duty or responsibility
Escape
Exile
Faith or the Loss of Faith
Falsity or Pretense
Family and Parenthood
Free will or Willpower
Forgiveness/second chances
Games/Contests/Tricks/Sports
Tricks
Greed
Guilt
Heaven/Paradise/Utopia
Home
Heart vs. Reason
Initiation
Illusion/Innocence
Instinct
Journey/Psychological Journey
Law/Justice
Education/School
Loneliness/Aloneness
Loyalty
Love/relationships
Materialism
Memory/the Past
Music/Dance
Mysterious Stranger
Persistence/Perseverance
Patriotism
Poverty
Prejudice
Prophecy
Repentance
Resistance/Rebellion
“What the author wants me to know
about ___________ is that
__________...”
Put the theme topic in BOTH blanks.
Do not define the theme topic; do not talk
about the story details YET.
Instead, answer the question – what is the
author wanting me to know about this
theme topic?
THEN get into the details of how the story
shares that idea.
EX: “What the author wants me to know
about war is that war often leads mean to
regret their actions. In the short story
“The Sniper,” the main character gets
caught up in fighting the enemy and
realizes too late that he’s fighting his own
brother.