I see a theme in a literature sense as something being a
guide, or closely related to a guide, I say this because when I read
something, it sometimes has an underlying message that relates to what is actually going on in the story to the real world.
This message usually changes or is expressed differently
depending on what theme is chosen for a book. Say a post-apocalyptic book on
the environment. The two problems can easily be related and after being read,
the reader feels as though they need to do something to avoid situations in the
book.
The theme of a book can be an idea expressed in many
different ways, such as the idea of a post-apocalyptic world mentioned
above. Several writers should have their own viewpoints on this theme and be
able to write their own version of events and developed their own characters that
fit the theme. This is the best way I can describe a theme at the moment.
A theme in my book would that not enough is being done to
help people in African countries and that when children do escape their own
countries they are put through immigration and through customs, which can be scary
to young children. Even after through all this when they are integrated with
society, bullies come out of every nook and cranny looking for any chinks in
the armour of these kids.
They look for anything to go on; skin, accent, beliefs or
even the types of food that foreign children like to eat. Kids can start to
feel like they don't belong or that they don't deserve to be where
they are. This is shown in the Other Side of Truth when Sade is bullied repeatedly
and when going through customs and immigration.
As I mentioned before the themes in my novel focus around
different areas of society these areas include: bullying, racism, asylum
seekers, immigration, child smuggling and corruption in the governments
of third world countries. I have noticed this in the few first chapters and am
confident in how obvious these different themes are in the book. Some are subtler then others, but I believe this is because the author did
not want to go into incredible detail with every theme that she wrote into
her novel.
The themes generally have an empathetic feel, as they affect
the main character's emotions and are usually not understood by the
character herself but are explained so that the reader knows what is
going on. I think a huge theme in this novel happens to be adjusting
and not. understanding exactly what is going on in the world around
you and that there is more then meets the eye.
