Theme

Talking about themes with our children will be a little different than the other lessons in this guide, because rather than providing a list of parts that most stories have, we will be coming to each story afresh, asking what it would teach us.

Defining Terms
Let’s begin with a definition of “theme” from The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms: a theme is “the statement(s), express or implied, that a text seems to be making about its subject” (514). This glossary goes on to point out that the word “theme” can also include morals and lessons (514).

For our purposes, let’s consider a lesson to be something that we take away — a new way of looking at or thinking about a topic. A Moral may be thought of as a type of lesson that is specific, succinct, and has an element of right or wrong, good or bad, should or shouldn’t.

For example, in Peter Rabbit we have themes of rebellion and obedience. The text seems to say “obey your mother lest you be put into a pie.” This is a lesson that is useful to the reader, even if he is less likely to be put into a pie than poor Peter. “Obey your mother” is a fairly succinct moral.

But not all themes can be narrowed down to tidy little morals for us. In Charlotte’s Web, for example, we have themes of friendship and the sanctity of life. When the barnyard pig is afraid of being butchered, a clever spider sacrifices her time and energy to save his life by writing words in her web. This text calls us to consider the sanctity of each life, yet it would be an overstep to say that the book is specifically prescribing a vegetarian lifestyle. Instead of a prescription, the themes of Charlotte’s Web present to us a lesson about the sanctity of the lives around us, and it encourages us to value friendship even unto sacrifice. Instead of a specific moral, we are asked to consider many elements of the narrative and learn a broader lesson.

Our Goals

Within each story we read, we may have a handful of thematic subjects (joy, childhood, independence, etc.) that arise out of the content of the narrative. As the characters move through the plot, they will (hopefully) learn a lesson about this subject. As the readers observe the characters, they too will (hopefully) learn a lesson about this subject, though not necessarily the same lesson as the characters.

In this unit, we will help our children to:

1. identifythematicsubjectsinastory,
2. considerwhatthecharacterslearnaboutthissubject,and 3. drawourownconclusionsaboutthissubject.

This process will require quite a high level of critical thinking, because we are talking about abstract concepts. Talking about themes provides an opportunity for children to consider different elements of the story and to begin to synthesize them. This is a pretty complex mental process, so we will be patient with our youngest children who may not yet be ready for this abstract thinking. We can model this thinking for them and invite them to join us in considering what we might learn about each theme. This unit, then, will require us, as the grown-ups, to do a bit of inquiring into each text. We want to consider what ideas run through the text (whether friendship, or obedience, or sacrifice, etc.) and what we can learn. Then, we will be able to lead our children in conversations about each theme.

Historical Themes in Children’s Literature

To prepare ourselves for this work, let’s consider some of the common themes that have guided the development of children’s literature. Literature and books for children have always been written and prepared for children by the adults of their generation who care about them. The themes of children’s books in every generation reveal the themes that the adults of that time felt were helpful, instructive, and appropriate. For much of the history of children’s literature, works for children have been predominately educational and designed to teach specific moral values. By looking at historical examples of children’s literature, we can see the development of some common themes. This can then prepare us to identify themes in contemporary literature and assist us as we evaluate what themes and ideals we consider useful for our own children or students.

Fables are a good place to begin our discussion of themes with our children, since the themes in these tales contain obvious lessons and succinct morals. Fables such as Asop’s find their origins in ancient oral tradition, and have remained an important form of children’s literature to the present day (Lerer 35). Entire books have been written on the history and pedagogy of these fables and their place in the development of childhood. For our purposes, it is enough to consider them as an effective starting place for the study of literature because they contain the central elements of literature in a very small space: clear protagonists and antagonists, problems, specific themes, and tidy morals. In the book Children’s Literature: A Reader’s History from Aesop to Harry Potter, author Seth Lerer explains that “in addition to their local morals or their specific injunctions, the fables teach ideas of authorship, notions of audience, ideals of verbal action — in short, literature itself” (35). At this point in our study of literature, then, it might be a good time to pull out Asop’s fables in order to review the elements of fiction in a tight, concise package. Adding in the discussion of theme will be a natural progression.

Lerer lists some of the themes that are commonly found in the fables: “learning to read and write, learning to please and fool the parents, learning to chart a moral path through temptation” (35). Other thematic subjects reoccur as well: “youth out of control,” “whims of wildness,” “relationships of power and control,” and “parent-child relationships” (38-39). While the stories of the fables may feel like something from another world, the themes they present are deeply human themes that our children still must contend with today. As we read through the fables with our children, we can use the theme as a common ground to bridge the gap between the ancient and modern worlds. See the Unit 5 Lesson Plan for specifics about leading these discussions.

While decidedly less ancient, Seth Lerer argues that in order to really understand the themes in modern and contemporary literature, we must take Robinson Caruso as our starting place. The themes of adventure and self-sufficiency in Daniel Dufoe’s classic novel have had a huge influence on the themes of children’s literature in the centuries since it’s publication (Lerer, 129). In the opening scene, we meet Robinson, an older man who narrates for us the story of his youth, his running away to sea, his shipwreck, and his return. In the opening scene of the book, he describes how urgently his sick father pleaded with him not to go away to sea for fear that he would disappear forever, as his older brothers had. Yet for Robinson, the good advice of his father and mother falls on deaf ears, and he feels driven by an intense need to see the world and to “act the rebel to their authority” (Defoe 33). These themes of independence, self-sufficiency, exploration of the natural world, parent-child relationships, rebellion and return, and crossing the boundaries of society have remained popular themes in children’s literature to the present day.

Books as wildly different as Lord of the Flies, the Boxcar Children series, and, as Lerer points out, Where the Wild Things Are all contain themes of independence, island adventure and self-sufficiency outside of civil society (133). Ever since Jean-Jacques Rousseau hailed Robinson Carusoe as the “first book [his] Emile will read,” in his 1762 treatise on education titled Emile, western society has apparently considered it good that children should read about themes of independence and adventure (Rousseau, qtd. in Lerer, 130). Of course having adventures and growing towards independence is the natural state of childhood. Whether young readers are tramping through a creek or sitting in a basement bean-bag chair, their need for adventure and independence motivates their growth towards adulthood. Books with these themes are common because they connect to and feed a part of the child’s spirit. This may be true now more than ever, as children sit inside more and have less opportunities for free play outdoors, they explore the world through adventurous characters.

The themes of Robinson Carusoe are not limited to adventuring, but also include Puritan themes of repentance, family relationships, and spiritual life. Lerer explains that “the novel brings together the two major early modern philosophical and social strands that contributed to children’s literary culture: Puritan devotion and Lockean epistemology” (129). In other words, Robinson Carusoe is unique because it has both themes of devotion to God and experiences of the natural world.

Puritan themes of family relationships, obedience, and devotion have also continued to influence children’s literature to the present day. The Berenstain Bears series, for example, contains themes of family relationships, hard work, social expectations, and proper behavior. And in books such as Winnie the Pooh, we see similar themes of friendship, loyalty, and problem solving that encourage children in a proper mode of behavior.

Perhaps the reason that all these themes have stood the test of time is because they are so closely connected to children’s development and experiences. As children grow from dependence on adults to independence, they are eager to read books about characters who are experiencing the independence they long for. Similarly, children explore the world with their senses, so themes of nature, exploration, and natural discovery are fitting. For a child younger than five or six, the family circle is the child’s whole world; it is only fitting that themes of family relationships would be of interest and importance in stories written for this child.

Just as the Puritans wrote didactic works for educating their children, many contemporary children’s books are also written with didactic aims. Consider how many books you have seen on bookstore shelves that deal with topics relevant to young readers: the first day of school, getting along, sharing toys, going to the doctor. Picture books and non-fiction for young readers abound with mental health topics or culturally relevant instruction. Consider titles such as What To Do With a Problem by Kobi Yamada, or Hands Are Not for Hitting by Martine Agassi. As we choose books to share with our children, it is imperative that we consider thoughtfully the themes and lessons that individual books present to our children. Books are powerful instructors and guides, but not all books are created equally. As teachers and parents, we must consider carefully the ideas and themes that are most instructive and useful for our children, and then guide them with thoughtful discussion of those themes.