THEME ESSAY ASSIGNMENT
Please review the following texts and films we read last week. I would like you to articulate (say in
words) what these works have in common.
This is known as a common THEME: Theme is defined as a main idea of a literary work or a universal
truth about life that may be stated directly or indirectly. Look over the list of readings and choose at
least THREE that you believe have a common theme. Write an essay of at least FIVE paragraphs that
first states the theme you have found and then pull quotes from EACH of your THREE sources to prove
what your theme is.
Texts and film:
“A Dream Deferred”—Langston Hughes (online)
“Harlem”—Langston Hughes (754)
“The Weary Blues”—Langston Hughes (751)
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers”—Langston
Hughes (759)
“I Have a Dream”—Martin Luther King, Jr.
(online)
“Tableau”—Countee Cullen (745)
Farewell to Manzanar, “The Mess Hall Bells”
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston (online)
“Mi Vida Loca” (print in class)
“Yo Soy Joaquin” (print and online)
“Salvador Late or Early,” Sandra Cisneros
(online)
“Letter on the Anniversary of MLK’s death”
Cesar Chavez (print)
“Incident”—Countee Cullen (747)
From “My Bondage and my Freedom”—
Frederick Douglass (413)
Negro Spirituals (415-416)
“The Most Remarkable Woman of the Age”
about Harriet Tubman (418)
“Ain’t I a Woman”—Harriet Tubman (online)
From “Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl”—
Harriet Jacobs (407)
The Help (film)
“Fish Cheeks” Amy Tan (online)
You may pick other stories or articles to write
your essay.