Writing a literary essay on themes can be hard if you don’t know what the themes are in the story or how to find them. That’s usually the case with most students who are used to writing about literature. Digging into the very heart of a story or novel can be hard, but it doesn’t have to be. One thing to keep in mind is that the story is like a gift-wrapped box: you have to peel away the layers to get inside it. Actually, the layers themselves become the way in which you’ll be able to understand the story.
Several things to keep in mind when analyzing a piece of literature is that you have to break down each component in order to find a recurring theme. Story, plot, characterization, literary tropes (i.e., metaphors, similes, analogies), and narrative arcs all play into the structure of a story. By understanding how each is used and the overall effect they have on the story’s meaning will allow you to get closer to understanding its underlying themes.
Let’s start off with plot. What is the story about? What actually happens? What does the character do in the story? Depending on the type of story, these questions might not always be easy to answer. Some stories, such as John Updike’s short story A&P;, might not have what one can consider a plot. In the story, a grocery store clerk checks out a couple of girls who enter the store wearing nothing but bathing suits and then quits when his boss chews them out for being inappropriately dressed. This explanation doesn’t sound like the kind of plot people usually associate in stories because during most of the story the protagonist does nothing but observe the characters. But even this is a sort of action, or a building of rising action, leading toward the story’s denouement, when the protagonist finally does act out of his own initiative. But even by breaking down this plot we’re able to discern some sense of the story’s theme. The character doesn’t do anything but observe the young girls, until his boss, who warns the girls not to enter the store again unless they are appropriately dressed, prompts him to quit his job. The question is: why does the protagonist finally take initiative to do something only until after he’s provoked? Answering this question offers a way inside the story’s theme through its plot.
Characterization is another way to untangle the theme from story. What kind of person is the protagonist? What does he want? How does he go about getting it? In the example above, the protagonist in Updike’s story is a smart-aleky, cynical, and sexist teenage boy. We learn a lot about him through his observations of the town he lives in, the people who patronize the store where he works, his coworkers and boss, and especially the young girls who cause such an upset. It is clear through the character’s narrative that he is full of opinions, many of them not very pleasant; but his opinions are strong and he stands by most of them. We also learn, by the way he quits his job to defend the young girls, he is, in his own way, chivalrous. Yet, at the same time, the protagonist comes across as self-absorbed and snotty. He is a complex character, someone not immediately likeable but infinitely fascinating. How does the characterization of the story’s protagonist offer some ideas about the story’s theme? What does it say about the character and the circumstances he finds himself in? What does his relationship to other people and the town he lives in say something about people of his type in general or the type of society he lives in? These questions also offer some insight into the story’s theme. Here, the story becomes as much about society and rigid societal standards and expectations (what is appropriate and not appropriate? Are rules to be followed or broken?) as it is about a single incident in a young man’s life.
These are just some examples in using the structure of a story to determine its themes. This can be done with a story’s narrative arc (who is the character at the start of the story and what does he become at the end?), metaphors, similes, analogies. Even the repetition of certain words or phrases throughout the story offer some clues. Symbolism (such as the green light blinking at the end of the pier in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby) also can be used to break down the story to get to its themes. The most important thing to remember when looking for themes in literature is to ask the right questions. By looking at the story closely and asking why certain things are placed within its structure, you’ll be able to determine what the story is really about?
