• Remember that a theme is the idea that the piece of literature conveys. It should be expressible in a sentence or two and defensible with evidence from the text.
• There may be more than one theme to a text, especially a novel.
• The theme is not the same as the topic or subject. For example one of the topics of the novel Deathwatch is survival. The theme would be: "To survive in a hostile environment one must rely on intellect more than physical strength."
• The theme is not a moral. The theme is an idea the author conveys, a comment on how life is, rather than how life should be. Morals, tell us how things should be; "A person should be nice to his/her fellow human". Themes tell us how life is; "People are capable of being incredibly cruel in the pursuit of self-promotion."
• The theme is not literature specific. It is a general truth about life as conveyed by the characters and events. So it is not "Ben had to use his head to survive", but "A person must use his head to survive".

• Deathwatch has many themes, and one or two could arguably be the central theme. These themes deal with a variety of topics or subjects.
• survival
• the possibility of evil
• success and failure
• self preservation
• trust and human nature
• goals
• the desire to escape
• revenge
• sense of right and wrong
• Any one of these topics could be developed into a theme simply by answering this question:
• What idea does Robb
White develop with regard to (topic)?
• eg - What idea does Robb
White develop with regard to the idea of survival?

logical interpretation + supporting details = valid response
• What idea does Robb White develop with regard to the idea of survival?
• Your answer ( logical interpretation ), if defensible with events and details in the novel ( supporting details ), will be a thematic statement ( valid response ): In order to survive in a hostile environment, a person has to rely as much or more on his/her mental abilities than his/her physical abilities.
• Proof:
• Ben had to overcome his sense of frustration and the temptation to give up, like when Madec smashed in the water jug
• Ben had to think of how to survive, even when it seemed impossible, evident when he used the woodpecker nests as sandals
• Ben had to outsmart his enemy in order to overcome him. He displayed this ability when he hid in the sand, and lit Madec's tent on fire.

TOPICS
• survival
• the possibility of evil
• success and failure
• self preservation
• goals
• revenge
• the desire to escape
• trust and human nature
• sense of right and wrong
• Take THREE of the topics and develop a thematic statement for each.
• Provide evidence from the novel to defend your theme.
• Each statement of theme and its proof will take the form of a paragraph of at least five sentences.

– setting, character, plot
– character, plot
– character / plot