English question

Question

What's the difference between a theme and thesis statement?

Answer 1

I teach that the theme is a universal idea in a piece. If you were in my class, and we had read The Outsiders, I'd ask you to state one word the idea. Like the most important word. You might say heroes, brothers, division, hate, or some other word. Say you chose division. What do you see that supports this idea? What does the author do teach us about division? Maybe you believe " division does not have to divide" meaning we are all different but we can be unified. Does your theme fit other pieces of literature? Harry Potter, divergent, Hunger Games for example. If it's broad and general then it is universal.

Thesis statement is in a nutshell - the point. What is the point of the article? How do you know? Did they prove their point.

Answer 2

Theme is the message that the author is trying to get across. Think of it as the moral of the story. Some theme examples are: good vs. evil, love, and nature as beauty. The thesis statement is a statement in your introduction paragraph that gives readers an idea of what your essay is going to be about.

Answer 3

Edwin, extending what Jon S. wrote above, I see a theme as more of a topic and main idea, the general message of a fairly broad piece of writing. I might write generally on the theme of animal abuse in puppy mills with the clear central idea that I am opposed to the situation. A deeper, more persuasive paper would assert a thesis that makes a specific claim or states a pointed position or opinion on the issue. In such a piece, I might argue to support a thesis like this: Local municipalities should pass legislation restricting shopping mall puppy stores and their implicit support of abusive "puppy mill" breeding operations.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you would like to talk about a specific assignment and how you can best meet expectations.

Michael

Answer 4

The theme statement states what the work is basically about. The thesis statement is an argument a writer constructs which is debatable. It doesn't even have to be about the theme of the work. For example, if I am working on Homer's Iliad, the thesis could be that Homer didn't write it. This has nothing to do with the theme.