A Writer's Handbook

A literary theme analysis will synthesize several elements within a work and prove an overall message with those elements.

• Beginning the analysis (using Harry Potter as an example)
  • Theme can be discovered only by becoming aware of the relations among the parts of a story and of the relations of the parts to a whole:
    • Characters:  What kind of people does the story deal with?
    • Plot:  What do the characters do?  Are they in control of their lives, or are they controlled by fate?
    • Motivation:  Why do the characters behave as they do, and what motives dominate them?
    • Style:  How does the author perceive reality?
    • Tone:  What is the author's attitude towards his subject?
    • Values:  What are the values of the characters in the story?  What values does the author seem to promote?
  • The importance of theme in literature can be overestimated; the work of fiction is more than just the theme.  However, the theme allows the author to control or give order to his perceptions about life.
• Think of the possible messages within the story – why was this story told (EX. Harry Potter series has a classic “good vs. evil” theme or even a finding out about one’s true self theme.  Maybe I would look at the symbolic fight between good and evil or at a coming of age story…Harry Potter series also has a look at family relations where blood family is not necessarily a person’s true family…)
• Choose a theme/issue that will be supported with enough examples from text (EX.  Coming of age, Familial vs. adopted relations and how friends and mentors can become family)
• Through what channels do you see this theme?  Create a working thesis:
  • State what you want to present about the theme in the story in the body of the paper
  • Be careful not to use a summary of the story as the thesis

    • EX:  A true coming of age is seen in the characters Harry, Ron, and Hermione in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.  **Note:  This would be the X, Y, Z thesis

    • EX: Characters in Harry Potter’s life illustrate the notion that a father figure does not necessarily have to be one’s biological father.  **Note:  This thesis is put into a general thesis format, not X,Y, Z

• Find evidence within the work to illustrate your points

• Find secondary sources as needed that help you prove your points

Exercise 10:  Brainstorm some possible theme analysis ideas with Harry Potter; start with the following – what could you do with these:

1. Notion of competition in children
2. Comment on bullying
3. Comment on children having to grow up too quickly
4. Class difference
5. Good versus Evil
6. Jealousy among siblings

• Be careful not to summarize the story – this is not an analysis
• Find connections and be original in your synthesis
• When using secondary sources, proof of your exact idea may not be readily available – what you will do is use support of individual elements to then address your main thesis idea
• Never use just the author’s first name – use the last name only or both names when discussing the author
• Always use present tense when talking about literature unless something directly happened “in the past” in the literary piece