Similarities And Differences Of Literary Themes In The Short Story

The stories “Contents of the Dead Man’s Pocket”, “The Leap”, and “The Trip” all explore aspects that are drastic for the characters and are thrilling to the audience to read. Common elements can be found in each story. Even though each story is similar, each story has a unique way of hooking the reader that stays true to the theme and plot.

A theme is a unifying or dominant idea in a literary work. Steinbeck described the competition of good versus evil as the story of mankind itself. He believes that every generation to come since Adam and Eve will now be immersed with the struggle of good and evil due to Eve’s curiosity that led to sin, eventually banning both her and Adam from the Garden of Eden. In East of Eden, Steinbeck makes the contest of good versus evil apparent through his contrasting description of the setting, the characters’ opposing personalities, and society’s changing morals.

This theme shows in a multitude of ways that the author utilizes throughout the story, but perhaps most significant is the central conflict

“Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket”, “Ambush”, and “Sniper” are three short stories that all seem to be different but also have similarities. Each story describes a short period of time in the main characters live that make a significant impact on them. Taking a close look at the literary elements of setting, theme, conflict, and characters show the similarities and differences between the three stories.

Themes include major topics such as love, war, life, death, family, and often convey the moral of the story, or a life lesson. Sometimes readers will misunderstand the topic of the story with the theme. The topic is a summary of what the story is about and the theme is the overall message about the topic. A successful author should know that a story should never lack a theme because the theme is what stays in every reader’s mind, even after forgetting the details of the story.

A theme, by literary definition, is a central topic of a text.This means that they are a always a part of every story. Mainly, themes symbolize the meanings of texts. In one particular story by Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Ones Who WAlk Away from Omelas,” one of its main themes centers around the neglection of morals and ethics. Throughout the text,this idea of moral neglection is apparent and it describes how derelict the ethics of the people of Omelas has become.

Have you ever thought that three completely different stories might have something in common? It might seem unlikely, but now you can change what you previously thought! The short stories Contents of a Dead Man’s Pockets by Jack Finney, The Leap by Louise Erdrich, and The Trip by Laila Lalami, all have their similarities and differences on several aspects. This can be demonstrated through the topics of setting, conflict, characters, and theme. These topics help make up the plot of each story. No story is the same, but they can have similar messages or themes meant for the audience. Some can argue that these three short stories are completely different, but other individuals differ. These main elements from each story can be both, depending on one’s point of view.

How does the author position the reader towards the major theme using the narrative elements?

Theme of the story: The conditions of a character's life has a direct influence on how they act in the novel.

The theme of any literary work is without a doubt the single handedly most important aspect of that work. As readers it benefits us greatly when we not only analyze the authors motives behind the work but also the underlying message as well. As Ernest Hemmingway implored, all works of literature are best looked at as ice bergs; where the appearance is just a mere portion to the real magnitude and message of the work. Joyce Carol Oates', "Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?" is one literary work that has a theme that requires the reader to look beyond just the story and to analyze all aspect of the work in order to discover the true meaning of her work.

What is the point of any piece of great literature? Or rather, what is great literature? Some would say that accomplished literature is a way of exceptionally telling a story. However, what is the point of storytelling? In many cases, stories are told for entertainment. However, most stories have a moral or theme conveying an important message about life or how to live it. This is the point of great literature, to convey this message beautifully. Some pieces of great literature are The Story-Teller, by Saki, Geraldine Moore the Poet, by Toni Cade Bambara, and Enemy Territory, by William Melvin Kelley. To understand the themes of great literature, you must also understand how to analyze it. The content

place nearly forty years apart. After a second read, however, it was easy to notice a distant

Based on the Play ‘Trifles’ written by Susan Glaspell, the literary element that I would like to suggest is theme. Theme is used to convey the main idea of a story, novel, play or drama to create a better understanding of the readers about the story. In the Play ‘Trifles’, the themes that I found aregender differences and oppression of women.

Theme gives the reader a general idea about what the piece of literature is about. The character’s action and thoughts takes part in creating the theme. Animal farm was a book about animals taking control of the farm from their tyrannic farmer. The animals attempts to make the farm a democracy, but Napoleon, the pig leader, takes over and eventually becomes the new tyrant. The Pearl was about a family, Kino, Juana, Coyotito, who catches a huge pearl. They go through a journey to get away from any harm such as the trackers. In the book Animal Farm and the book The Pearl, the two characters, Napoleon and the Doctor, created a theme that greed can change their perspective.

The short story is a concise form of narrative prose that is usually simpler and more direct compared to longer works of fiction such as novels. Therefore, because of their short length, short stories rely on many forms of literary devices to convey the idea of a uniform theme seen throughout the script. This theme is illustrated by using characteristics that are developed throughout the story such as, plot, setting and characters. The three main components are developed throughout the story in order to guide the reader to the underlying theme, which is necessary as a short story lacking a theme also lacks meaning or purpose.