A theme is an author's answer to an interesting, universal question.

1. 10/28/15
Terms for today:
Theme
Utopia/Dystopia

2. Interesting question
• An open-ended question that smart people can
legitimately disagree about.
NOT: What does Billy Ray Cyrus think of Miley’s new
twerking routine?
INSTEAD: Should parents accept twerking an acceptable
form of teenage rebellion?
Or
Is teenage rebellion natural?
or
Is it racist for young rich white women to twerk badly?

3. Interesting question
• An open-ended question that smart people
can legitimately disagree about.

4. An interesting question
• It’s not a yes or no question.
• It’s not a question of fact.
• There can be multiple interesting answers to
the question

5. Why do writers make up narratives
and stories?

6. Theme
• An author’s answer to an interesting question
• Smart people can have different opinions
about it
• Other authors can write new stories about it

7. Some questions that might be raised by a text:
• What is human nature?
• Are people mostly good, or mostly evil?
• What’s more important in life—love or money?
• What is the cause of injustice in society?