Theme

Theme is a broad idea, message, or lesson that is conveyed by a work. The message may be about life, society, or human nature. Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas and may be implied rather than stated explicitly. Themes may be greatly influenced by the author’s personal experience and is directly linked to the purpose of the piece. Major themes are generally expressed through a motif.  **__EXAMPLES: __** In __Heat and Dust__ a major theme is **the comparison of western and eastern culture**. This theme is drawn from the author’s personal experience of exposure to British and Indian culture. Comparisons are illustrated in many ways by multiple motifs but one of the most significant appearances of this theme is the representation of British views on India through the British colonials’ opinion on the Indian ritual of suttee: “…not only did they keep completely cool, but they even had that little smile of tolerance, of affection, even enjoyment that Olivia was beginning to know well: like good parents, they all loved India whatever mischief she might be up to” (58) portraying that the British expatriates view the Indians as second-class citizens or “children” who they have to tolerate.  Another theme in __Heat and Dust__ is the **“India always changes people”** (2) the author introduces in the exposition of her novel. The two female protagonists both undergo transformations (which have unsettling similarities and differences—and are at times very frustrating to compare). The author reflects on this concept in the denouement of the novel with Major Minnies’ “monograph on the influence of India on the European consciousness and character” which “refer[s] to [an] element, one which the European is not accustomed to live so that by immersion in it he becomes deliberated, or even (like Olivia) destroyed” (170&171).
 * THEME **