Themes and Message; Subordinating Conjunctions – Key Aspects of Prose (Senior 4 Literature in English) | Ganzaa

Key Aspects of Prose

Lessons

Senior 4 · Literature in English

Key Aspects of Prose

5 lessons

Lesson 5 of 5

Themes and Message; Subordinating Conjunctions

25 min

Ask three students what "After Twenty Years" is about, and you may get three kinds of answer:

"It's about two friends who meet after twenty years, and one arrests the other." That is the plot.
"It's about friendship and duty." Those are topics.
"It shows that a person can stay loyal to an old friend and still do what is right, though doing both may cost him dearly." That is a theme.

Only the third answer says what the story shows about life. Finding and stating themes is the skill examiners reward most in prose, and it is the last key aspect of prose in this unit. The second half of the lesson gives you the grammar to write about themes precisely: subordinating conjunctions.

Definition

topic (subject): what a story is about, in a word or phrase. friendship; duty; appearances.
theme: a central idea about life or human nature that a work explores, stated as a complete sentence. Appearances can deceive even careful people.
message: what the writer wants readers to think, feel or do as a result of the work. Douglass's message: slavery must end, and education is the road to freedom.
moral: a direct lesson about right behaviour, usually stated, as in a fable. Slow but steady wins the race.
universal theme: a theme that applies across times and cultures, such as love, loss, justice or coming of age.

Six clues to a theme

Clue	Ask	Example
The title	Why this title?	"The Open Window": the window is the stage for Vera's fiction; things are not what they seem through it
The central conflict and how it ends	Who or what wins, and at what cost?	Duty beats friendship in "After Twenty Years", but Jimmy refuses to make the arrest himself
Character change	Who changes, who doesn't, and what do they learn?	Bob has been changed "into a bad one" by twenty years of chasing money
Repeated images, words or symbols	What keeps coming back?	Light and darkness; the "twenty years" repeated by both men
Key statements	What do characters or the narrator say at turning points?	"It sometimes changes a good man into a bad one"
What the ending rewards or punishes	Who is rewarded, who is punished, and why?	Bob's boasting and dishonesty end in arrest; Framton's self-absorption is mocked

Themes in the unit's texts

Text	Topic	Theme, as a sentence	Evidence
"After Twenty Years"	time and change	Time can change a person's character as well as his face.	"It sometimes changes a good man into a bad one."
"After Twenty Years"	loyalty and duty	True loyalty may mean doing what is right while sparing a friend what pain you can.	"Somehow I couldn't do it myself"
"The Open Window"	appearance and reality	People who see only what they expect are easily deceived.	Framton believes a stranger because her story is detailed and her face looks horrified
"The Open Window"	the power of stories	A well-told story can feel more real than reality.	The real hunters walking home look like ghosts to Framton
Douglass's Narrative	education and freedom	Knowledge is a path to freedom, which is why oppressors try to keep people ignorant.	"From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom."
"Ruhaya and the Hyena"	wit and strength	A quick mind can defeat greater strength.	Ruhaya escapes twice by tricks, never by force

The Douglass quotation comes from the chapter in which his master forbids his mistress to teach him to read, saying that reading would make him unfit to be a slave. Douglass draws the opposite conclusion, and his message is clear: slavery depends on ignorance, so education is resistance.

Notice that one work can have several themes, and that a theme is not the same as a moral. A fable states its moral; a short story usually leaves its themes for the reader to find, and good readers may state them differently, as long as the evidence supports them.

Tip

The theme formula: topic + what the work says about it. Turn "friendship" into "Friendship that is not tended can turn into a stranger's handshake." Then test it: can you support it with two pieces of evidence from different parts of the text? If not, rewrite it.

Warning

A single word ("love", "greed") is a topic, not a theme.
Avoid commands ("Never lie") and clichés ("Crime doesn't pay"): they sound like morals and flatten the work. Write a statement about life that fits this text.
Don't give a theme that only fits one scene. A theme runs through the whole work.

Language focus: subordinating conjunctions

To write about themes you must link ideas: although Jimmy loves Bob, he does his duty; Framton runs because he believes the story. The words in italics are subordinating conjunctions.

A main (independent) clause can stand alone as a sentence: he does his duty.
A subordinate (dependent) clause has a subject and a verb but cannot stand alone: although Jimmy loves Bob.
A subordinating conjunction begins a subordinate clause and shows how it relates to the main clause: time, reason, condition, contrast, purpose or result.

Meaning	Conjunctions	Example from the unit's texts
Time	when, while, as, before, after, until, since, as soon as, whenever	"As the policeman walked up to him the man spoke up quickly." (O. Henry)
Reason	because, since, as	Framton flees because he believes he is seeing ghosts.
Condition	if, unless, provided that, as long as	"I know Jimmy will meet me here if he's alive" (O. Henry)
Contrast and concession	although, though, even though, whereas, while, whilst	"Whilst I was saddened by the thought of losing the aid of my kind mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by the merest accident, I had gained from my master." (Douglass)
Purpose	so that, in order that	Jimmy sends another officer so that he need not arrest his friend himself.
Result	so … that, such … that	Vera's story is so convincing that Framton runs into the road.
Place	where, wherever	Bob waits where the restaurant used to stand.

Punctuation

When the subordinate clause comes first, put a comma after it: When the match flared, Jimmy recognised the face.
When it comes second, usually no comma: Jimmy recognised the face when the match flared. (A comma is common before a contrast clause with although or whereas.)

Worked example: combining sentences to state a theme

Task: Join each pair with a suitable subordinating conjunction, and say what relation it shows.

Jimmy loves his old friend. He has him arrested.
Although Jimmy loves his old friend, he has him arrested. (contrast: the two facts pull against each other, which is exactly the story's tension)
Framton knows nothing about the family. He believes Vera's story.
Because Framton knows nothing about the family, he believes Vera's story. (reason)
The match is struck. Jimmy sees the wanted man's face.
When the match is struck, Jimmy sees the wanted man's face. (time)
Enslaved people learn to read. They will not stay enslaved, the master fears.
The master fears that if enslaved people learn to read, they will not stay enslaved. (condition)

Note the commas after each fronted clause, and that sentence 1 is already a theme statement: subordinating conjunctions let you hold two sides of an idea in one sentence.

Warning

Fragments: a subordinate clause alone is not a sentence. Not Because he was afraid. but He ran because he was afraid.
Doubled conjunctions: not Although he was rich, but he was unhappy. Use one: Although he was rich, he was unhappy.
Despite and in spite of are prepositions, followed by a noun or -ing form, not a clause: Despite his success, or Although he was successful, never Despite he was successful.
However is not a subordinating conjunction; it joins sentences: Bob was rich. However, he was not honest.

"What is a Theme in Literature?", from the Oregon State University School of Writing, Literature and Film. The speaker shows how to move from a topic to a theme and how to find themes through a story's details. Try his method on "The Open Window" and compare your answer with the table above.

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Practice

Explain the difference between a topic, a theme, a message and a moral, with an example of each.
Turn each topic into a theme statement for a text in this unit: (a) appearance and reality (b) ambition (c) knowledge.
Which of these is a theme statement? (a) "Greed." (b) "Never be greedy." (c) "Greed can blind people to the danger in front of them."
Name the subordinating conjunction and the relation it shows: (a) Bob will wait half an hour unless Jimmy arrives. (b) While Mrs Sappleton chatters, her eyes keep straying to the window. (c) The drizzle grew heavier as the evening went on.
Join with a subordinating conjunction and punctuate correctly: (a) Vera had checked her listener. She began her story. (b) Douglass had no teacher. He set out to learn to read.
Correct: (a) Although Framton was nervous but he visited strangers. (b) Despite he was frightened, Framton stayed for tea. (c) Because the window was open.
Write a paragraph of about 150 words on one theme of "After Twenty Years". Use at least three different subordinating conjunctions and two quotations.

Show answersHide answers

Topic: the subject in a word (friendship). Theme: a statement about life the work explores (People can be loyal to a friend and still do their duty). Message: what the writer wants us to think or do (Douglass: end slavery; value education). Moral: a direct lesson, usually stated (Slow but steady wins the race).
Examples: (a) "The Open Window": People who see only what they expect are easily deceived. (b) "After Twenty Years": Ambition pursued without honesty can corrupt a person. (c) Douglass: Knowledge is a path to freedom, which is why oppressors keep people ignorant.
(c). (a) is a topic and (b) is a command or moral.
(a) unless: condition (b) while: time (or contrast) (c) as: time.
(a) After Vera had checked her listener, she began her story. (Or: When Vera had…) (b) Although Douglass had no teacher, he set out to learn to read.
(a) Although Framton was nervous, he visited strangers. (b) Although he was frightened, Framton stayed… (or: Despite being frightened, …). In the story, of course, he did not stay. (c) Not a sentence: add a main clause, e.g. Because the window was open, Framton could see the lawn.
Answers vary. Check for a theme stated as a full sentence, two accurate quotations, three different subordinating conjunctions and correct commas.

Quick check

Which of these is a theme statement rather than a topic or a moral?

Key points

A theme is a central idea about life, stated as a sentence; a topic is a word or phrase, a moral is a stated lesson, and a message is what the writer wants readers to think or do.
Find themes through the title, the conflict and its ending, character change, repeated images and key statements, and support each with evidence from different parts of the text.
Subordinating conjunctions (although, because, when, if, unless, so that…) join a subordinate clause to a main clause; put a comma after a fronted subordinate clause, and never leave one standing alone.

1Six clues to a theme

2Themes in the unit's texts

3Language focus: subordinating conjunctions

Punctuation

Six clues to a theme

Themes in the unit's texts

Language focus: subordinating conjunctions