How does a story's plot differ from a story's theme?
The plot describes the action of a story while the theme describes its soul.
Although themes aren't the same as plots, plots incorporate themes. A theme of "Family is important", for example, must feature a plot in which facing adversity makes the family stronger. A theme of "We make our own family" may have a plot in which four unrelated people experience adversity and develop close ties as a result. If the plot doesn't carry the theme, the theme never escapes the writer's brain.
Some themes are universal and archetypal. A professor named Joseph Campbell spoke on a universal theme called "The hero's journey" in a book called The Hero of a Thousand Faces. (Women scholars have argued his Hero is inevitably masculine, and I agree). The hero's journey consists of leaving home in a naive state, facing a danger, feeling insecure about meeting the danger, failing at meeting the danger, discovering his strength, and overcoming the danger. In other words, growing up. Choosing good over evil is also a universal theme, and if you've read any of the Harry Potter books, you're familiar with the theme. Fairy tales have great archetypal themes -- reread them!
Some themes are shaped by our times. One of my common themes is "Acceptance of the Other," whether they're a different color, race, nationality, love preference, or species (there are non-human humanoids involved). This theme might not have been possible three hundred years ago. One theme of my current book is "We should choose our own destinies," again not possible in the time of Calvinistic Determinism. Another is the previously mentioned "We make our own family" (or, in the movie Lilo and Stitch, "Ohana") .
Some themes are shaped by our culture. The ancient Greeks viewed Eros, or passionate love, as a chaotic force that induced destructive behavior in its victims. How would they have reacted to the "happily ever after" of today's romance novels?
One of the secrets of themes is that they should not be announced. Stories in which a character explicitly ties up the action by reviewing the theme with other characters -- I am reminded of one of the staples of my childhood, ABC After School Specials on TV. "Johnnie, I told you not to open the door to strangers!" (Also, "Johnnie, I told you not to invite the drug dealer in for pizza!") Your readers will find the themes, even subconsciously, when they feel themselves identify with them.
Themes, rather than plots, may be the way you perceive the world. If someone asks you what the book is about and you say, "It's about a battle off the coast of Antarctica", you're a plot person. If you answer, "it's about survival in the Antarctic during wartime," you're a theme person (see the difference?)
By the way, I'm a theme person. (My book is about a young person who discovers people who share her uncanny talent. Plot people grumble at descriptions like this -- but what HAPPENS?)
Plots are intentional and are the meat of the story. Themes I am sure are also intentional. I am sure that as the book evolves there are other themes that are unintentional. Those are the ones the I think are the most interesting. As the reader I don't know if all the themes are intential or not. You the writer know for sure.
ReplyDeleteThemes are also subjective....one reader may see one or two themes while another reader may pick out Three to four. It also has to do with life experience. Those with more life experience will recognize more themes vs. the reader with limited life experience will not be able to identify any theme or only the obvious theme. ( That was a personal observation from Dr. Neustadter's memoir class- one of my most favorite classes of all time)
Themes are fun. I have always thought of them as a way to peer into the soul of the writer.
That is what i was talking about when after you read a specific writer enough you get to know them at an intament level.
This is Lanetta