Mrs. Johal English 1A
Theme Analysis Essay Requirements
The theme of a work of literature is the comment the author makes about
his subject matter, a revelation about the behavior of human beings or the
conduct of society; an insight into the human condition. It is the insight we gain
from thinking about what we have read. The theme of a literary work is its
underlying central idea, or the generalization it communicates about life. At
times, the author’s theme may not confirm of agree with your own beliefs, but
even then, if it is skillfully written, the work will still have a theme that
illuminates some aspects of true human experience.
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Questions for Theme Analysis
What important idea or theme does this literary work convey? Think
about the topics of some of your journal entries. What questions do the
journal prompts raise about human nature?
What do characters do that helps illustrate this idea?
What do characters say that helps to illustrate this idea?
What events take place in the work that help to illustrate this idea?
Are there any recurrent images or clusters of images? Do these images
support the idea or theme that you find in the work?
What does the narrator say that helps to illustrate this idea?
Writing your Essay
First, pick one short story from James Baldwin’s “Going to Meet the Man”
and one theme to write your analysis. Next, you need to form your thesis
statement. After deciding on a thesis, you need to form a rough outline using the
provided example. You will need to provide at least three examples from the
book to illustrate the theme, which will be the components of your body
paragraphs. You will need three quotes per body paragraph, so nine quotes all
together. Don’t rely on the quotes to explain themselves. You need to lead into
the quote, and also comment on the quote after you quote it, refer to your
double-entry notebook. You need to effectively show how the quote helps to
prove your point.
Mrs. Johal English 1A
Follow the outline below--
Introductiono Capture the reader’s interest. (An effective way to do this is to
explain why you chose your thematic topic. You can do this by
alluding to a specific time in history, providing a personal
anecdotes, or including a strong statement that catches your
audiences attention about the topic.
o Give background information about the text and the overall
purpose of why the text was written. You will need to include
background about the author or the historical period.
o State the thesis, which will include the theme and the overall
elements of your essay.
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Body-Write paragraphs to explain how the author expresses the theme in
his book. To describe each example, you need to include the following
information.
o Describe a certain instance from the text that develops the theme.
o What happened? What did the character do to show the theme?
o Integrate quotations and textual details form the text. Analyze all
examples, probing to the underlying ideas.
o Be sure to provide clear topic sentences and transitions to guide
your reader.
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Conclusion
o Recall the thesis and discuss the relevance and significance of the
ideas that you have explored.
o Explain what you have learned about your novel and the overall
message about the human experience.
o What did you think of the theme? How has it affected you?
o Put your own personal stamp on this paragraph. Explain how these
books relate to your life and to America today.
o The last sentence must have an impact on your readers.
After you construct your outline, you need to create a rough draft. I want
this to include at least your introductory paragraph, with your thesis and
what your body paragraphs are going to contain, and a conclusion
paragraph that paraphrases the main idea of your paper. After you
complete your final essay, you need to CAREFULLY proofread it, or have
someone else proofread it. I want these to be typed, double-spaced, with
your name, date, and hour in the upper left hand corner heading. You will
be turning in to me your outline, rough draft, and final paper, so save it
all. If you have any questions, please ask me.