The document discusses what a theme is in stories. A theme makes a general statement about life or human behavior that is illustrated through the story. It can be thought of as the moral or lesson of the story. Themes tend to be applicable to multiple stories. The document provides examples of stories like Shrek, Beauty and the Beast, and To Kill a Mockingbird that share the common theme "Things aren't always what they seem" because in each story, characters are initially judged based on outward appearances rather than who they truly are. Themes should be general statements, supported by the story, and often express common phrases about life. When identifying themes, it's important to consider the lessons characters learn and ensure the theme

1. Theme
A Bite-Sized Bit of EOC Prep

2. Theme
A theme of a story is the
general statement it is making
about life or people’s behavior.
Sometimes you can think of it like the moral of
the story, or the lesson it’s trying to teach.
A theme is general, and you can find lots of
stories with the same theme.

3. Examples
Can you think of the theme of these
stories?
Hint: They all have the same theme…
Shrek
Beauty and The Beast
To Kill a Mockingbird

4. Things aren’t always what
they seem.
For each of those books/movies
you can say that the theme is
“Things aren’t always what
they seem.”
This is because in each of those stories you have
a situation where people are judged based on
their outsides, when who they really are is
much different.

5. Themes are:
• General statements or “truths” about life
• Applicable to many stories
• Supported by the story (you need to be
able to say why a theme is what it is)
• Often it’s a cliché (in other words, a
commonly used phrase…like “don’t judge
a book by its cover” or “two wrongs
don’t make a right”)

6. How to Answer These Questions
Correctly
1. Think about the lessons the characters
learn in the course of the story.
2. Make sure the theme isn’t specific to
just this story, is it general enough that
other stories could have the same
theme.
3. Don’t get theme and topic confused.
The topic of Shrek is “ogres”…this is not
a statement or observation about life.