"What is a Theme in Literature?": A Literary Guide for English Students and Teachers

The common advice 'be yourself' is often too simplistic and unhelpful, especially when one's self is ambiguous or still developing. This kind of surface-level advice is not found in good literature.

A theme is a central, unifying idea that emerges as characters pursue their goals, focusing on deeper questions about identity, philosophy, or morality. A moral, on the other hand, is a message or recommendation for how to live, often useful for children but unsatisfying for more experienced individuals.

Writers like John Gardner and Anton Chekhov emphasize that a writer's job is not to provide solutions but to clearly articulate the complex questions of life through their stories. Good literature presents problems truthfully without offering easy answers.

The story 'Boys and Girls' illustrates a theme of 'gender roles' by showing a girl's rebellion against societal expectations. The story explores the complexities of how gender defines identity and its consequences, but it does not offer a moral on whether to defy or accept these roles.

Since there are often no easy answers to life's profound questions, it's appropriate to phrase themes as questions. The best stories honor the difficulty of these questions by presenting them clearly, with all their complexity, rather than providing simple, often inadequate, solutions.