Kids Corner: How to identify themes in English literature

A lot of my students have difficulty identifying themes. If you also find this difficult, don’t worry! I think that just makes you a human being. I think I can help you. So, let’s look at the process I use to identify themes in literature and semantic fields in excerpts of text.

First of all, we need to know the difference between a theme and a semantic field:

A theme = topics, references, words, names, ideas etc. found through large parts of a piece of literature that all connect to the same idea or topic

A semantic field = topics, references, words, names, ideas etc. found through a few paragraphs or sentences that all connect to the same idea or topic.

So, a semantic field is like a mini theme! Let’s look at that process to identify them:

• Read through the piece of literature and pay attention to any patterns you see. Are there groups of words or ideas that are all related to the same thing?

• Take these words and put them together (e.g. cracked, fried, chicken, baby, hatch, innocent, and birth)

• What idea connects all of these words? (e.g. an egg)

• Name that idea (e.g. Egg representing birth)

• Identify if it is a mini theme (semantic field) or a main theme

Ta daaaaa! You just identified a theme. Remember though, that is not enough when writing an essay or exam answer. You must always identify the theme, and then say what effect that theme has on the reader. Don’t forget you also need to explain HOW that theme creates that effect.