Theme Statement Review
A Strong Theme Statement:
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Is written in a COMPLETE sentence.
Includes title and author
Is written in the form of an assertion
Does NOT state the obvious/define a big idea word with its standard definition.
Does NOT use personal pronouns “I” or “you”
How Not To State the Obvious
Instead of supplying a standard definition of the word, consider the following questions:
 Is the book suggesting that the big idea causes something?
 Is the book suggesting that the big idea is a result of something?
 Is the book making some sort of value judgment or offering some opinion on this concept?
 Is the book defining this idea unconventionally?
EXAMPLES OF COMMON PROBLEMS AND THEIR SOLUTIONS
1. One problem is mistaking the big idea for a theme. In other words, the word itself is not the theme. The question is,
“what is the author saying about this word?”
WRONG:
 In “Strange Fruit,” Kitchings presents the theme of appearance versus reality.
 In “Shame,” Gregory presents the idea of poverty.
 In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee presents the idea of empathy.
 In “The Confrontation,” Barrios presents the idea of pride.
 Pride is a major theme in “The Confrontation” by Raymond Barrios.
 In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck presents the idea of the American Dream.
 In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows alienation.
BETTER:
 In "Strange Fruit," Kitchings presents the idea that evil may lie beneath a surface of tranquility.
 In “Shame,” Dick Gregory presents the idea that poverty , rather than being an emptiness, is a fullness.
 In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee suggests that empathy is the key to preventing conflict.
 In “The Confrontation,” Barrios presents the idea that pride is the quality that separates man from animal.
 In “The Confrontation,” Barrios suggests that without pride, a person loses his humanity.
2. Another problem is stating the obvious or being cliché. See the checklist at the top of this paper for how to avoid being
obvious or cliché.
WRONG:
 In “Strange Fruit,” Kitchings warns not to judge a book by its cover. (cliché)
 In “Shame,” Gregory presents the idea that shame is feeling embarrassed in front of others. (stating the obvious;
that’s what shame is)
 In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee presents the idea that prejudice is judging others based on their race.
(stating that obvious)
 In “The Confrontation,” Barrios presents the idea that pride means standing up for yourself. (stating the obvious
and it has a personal pronoun)
 In “The Confrontation,” Barrios shows that rebellion means standing up to authority. (stating the obvious)
 In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows that people become lonely when they are alienated. (stating the
obvious—that’s the definition of alienation)
 In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows that loyalty means being there for someone no matter what. (obvious—
that’s what loyalty is)
BETTER:
 In "Strange Fruit," Irene Kitchings presents the idea that a horrible reality can be hidden by a false appearance.
 In “Shame,” Dick Gregory presents the idea that shame, once learned, is strongly internalized.
 In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee presents the idea that prejudice leads to great injustice.
 In “The Confrontation,” Barrios demonstrates that hard labor may crush a man’s spirit, but as long as a man has
his pride, he is not conquered.
 In “The Confrontation,” Barrios suggests that a seemingly small act of rebellion may have great significance.
3. Instead of stating a theme, a belief that the author has about a general or universal truth, the theme statement covers
a plot point.
WRONG:
 In “Shame,” Gregory learns shame because of how his teacher treats him in school.
 In To Kill a Mockingbird Atticus has courage because he defends Tom Robinson.
 In “The Confrontation,” Barrios shows pride because Manuel discovers how important it is to stand up for
yourself. (also bad b/c of personal pronoun)
 In “The Confrontation,” Barrios shows that Manuel’s courage inspired others.
 In Of Mice and Men Steinbeck presents alienation because the characters feel alienated from each other.
 In Of Mice and Men Steinbeck presents loyalty because George and Lennie are there for each other.
 In Of Mice and Men Steinbeck presents the American Dream because George and Lennie hope to get their own
piece of land.
BETTER:
 In “Shame,” Gregory contends that shame is a learned behavior rather than an intrinsic feeling of inferiority.
 In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee contends that courage is synonymous with integrity.
 In “The Confrontation,” Barrios contends that while hard labor may crush a man’s spirit, as long as a man has his
pride, he is not conquered.
 In “The Confrontation,” Barrios suggests that bearing witness to courage may inspire one to be courageous.
Approaches to thinking about Theme
1. CAUSE OR RESULT
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In “The Confrontation,” Barrios demonstrates that hard labor may crush a man’s spirit, but as long as a man has
his pride, he is not conquered.
This statement shows cause because it says that pride causes one to remain unconquered.
 In “The Confrontation,” Barrios suggest that bearing witness to courage may inspire one to be courageous.
This statement shows cause because it’s saying that one person’s courage causes another’s.
 In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee presents the idea that prejudice leads to great injustice.
The cause/effect relationship here should be obvious; prejudice causes injustice.
2. UNCONVENTIONAL DEFINITION
Defining a word with its dictionary definition or a widely accepted definition would be WRONG.
Defining a big idea word with an unconventional definition or an arguable definition would be right.
For example, Harper Lee offers an unconventinal definition of courage in To Kill a Mockingbird:
 In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee contends that courage means having integrity.
This definition is unconventional because courage means facing difficulty, danger, or pain. Lee largely discounts the idea
of facing physical danger. Her contention is that sticking to one’s beliefs is the most significant form of courage.
Reminder—this statement was WRONG:
 In “The Confrontation,” Barrios presents the idea that pride means standing up for yourself. (stating the obvious
and it has a personal pronoun)
wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong
Here’s how to fix that with an unconventional definition:
 In “The Confrontation,” Barrios presents the idea that having pride is what it means to be human.
This is an unconventional definition because that’s not the dictionary definition of pride, nor would everyone agree.
3. VALUE JUDGEMENT/OPINION
Ask yourself, what does the writer think about this idea? Is it
good/bad?
true/not true?
important/unimportant?
rare/common?
admirable/despicable?
right/wrong?
valuable/not valuable?
There are more questions out there; this list just has a few.
So, start with good/bad. Harper Lee clearly thought that prejudice was bad, but that’s not a very sophisticated theme
statement. You could say, though,
 In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee condemns prejudice as an abomination.
This theme statement shows a value judgment/opinion because it tells us that Lee thinks that prejudice is very bad. How
bad? Abominably bad. It’s sophisticated because it has good vocab and shows the extent to which she thinks it is bad.
Here’s another example
 In “The Confrontation,” Barrios suggests that a seemingly small act of rebellion may have great significance.
This theme statement shows a value judgment because it contends that small acts of rebellion are
valuable/good/important.
And finally:
 In “The Confrontation,” Barrios presents the idea that pride is the quality that separates man from animal.
This statement demonstrates a value judgment/opinion because it contends that pride is extremely
important/valuable/significant.