Why Didn't We Get This Article Freshman Year?

The Theme article by Perrine that was assigned to us for reading this weekend was an article that actually made me feel some emotion. I bet anyone who is reading this is thinking "Man this girl is odd, getting emotion from something as common as theme?!" Yes it is true, there were a few waves of emotion that I faced when reading this article.

My first emotion that ran through my head was thankfulness that Heidkamp gave us such a straightforward article explaining a topic that has alwyas seemed ambiguous to me.

Then my happiness abrubtly stopped. I realized at that moment just how angry I was at my previous teachers who didn't provide me with such an easy tool. For the past three years, my teachers have asked for me to find the "theme" as if it was the answer to every question about a piece of writing.Looking back, I remember recieving a few lousy sentence definitions of what theme is, but it has never clicked for me.

Maybe I am the only student who feels as if I have been slighted on such an important topic in literature, but I am glad that I was finally given a solid response to a question that has been bugging me for years. I seriously think that this article should be passed out in freshman english classes within the first weeks of school because it was so helpful to me, and I am a senior with many years of english under my belt.

 

Comments

[Caylee S]

I totally understand! This article along witht the Nabakov article have really changed my perspective on what a theme really is, and how to comprehend an English course. Why don't freshman teachers give this to us? It seems like it would have really come in handy for the past 3 years of high school. At least we got this at the beginning of the year and can now use it for the rest of senior year and college.

[Katie W]

After epically stuggling with the concept of theme for three years, leave it to our senior year of high school to finally understand what we've been taught! I too was ecastatic to finally clarify the role a theme plays in a story. I also agree with the suggestion of giving this article to freshman english classes. Perhaps during their first week of school is an excellent idea, that way they will not struggle for the remainder of their high school career.