highest rank. Ordinarily the author, having made some observation of life and having discovered what he regards as a truth, wishes to put that discovery before the world in a convincing piece of fiction. Rudyard Kipling conceives it as possible that sometimes one man and one woman are born for each other, and that, being so intended for each other, half the world cannot keep them apart. This theme he puts into the story of The Brushwood Boy. Knowing the power which the human will exerts upon the physical being, Edgar Allan Poe imagines the possibility of a will strong enough to overcome death itself. This is the theme of Ligeia. De Maupassant observes that effects in nature are sometimes out of all proportion to causes. Twice he embodies this idea in fiction-in The Piece of String and in The Necklace. Stated concretely, this theme is actually worded in the latter, "What a little thing it takes to make you or to lose you." Enough has been shown in these three examples chosen at random to indicate that themes are of various kinds. It is hardly possible under half a dozen headings to classify all the kinds of themes, for there are sure to be, now and then, stories which refuse to submit to the bonds of general classification. Nevertheless, under a few heads the typical themes may be cataloged. Dr. Henry van Dyke has said, very probably in answer to many inquiries, concerning the meaning of The Other Wise Man, that the whole meaning could not be put into a single sentence. If it were possible to do so, he says, the story would hardly be worth the telling. This statement seems temperate and just; but at the same time we believe that the large meaning of the story is perfectly clear to every discriminating reader, and that it can be stated in a single sentence. This moving story says, The way to worship the Savior and to serve God is to do the Savior's will and God's work in the act of serving one's fellow men. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Some other lessons" which might One would be justified. 66 be drawn from this story are: in telling a lie if by so doing the life of a little child might be saved; or a lifetime spent in seeking the Christ is not misspent. These are but two of the many worthy thoughts suggested by the story, but who would place these above the larger theme which the author keeps constantly before the reader? Dr. van Dyke keeps this thought ever prominent, no matter what others are offered as the story progresses toward its culmination. In determining what the theme of a story is the beginner must guard against confusing the terms "theme and "moral." He must not ask, What does this story teach? for many stories do not teach at all in the sense of presenting a moral lesson. But rather let him begin his statement of the theme by saying to himself, The author's purpose in writing this story was to show that etc. Sometimes the theme is a lesson, a "moral "; but more commonly it is not. The theme of The Other Wise Man could be stated either way. As a moral it would read: The lesson (or moral) of this story is that one can best serve God by doing His work in the world. Stated as meaning it would be like this: The author's purpose was to show that one best serves God who loves mercy and does justice to his fellow men. These two statements are practically identical, but the themes of stories not of the moral type cannot be stated in the manner of the first formula. Take, for example, Jack London's story of character, entitled Samuel. Here we have a true impression of life. Stated in terms of the author's primary purpose the theme is as follows: This story was written to delineate the character of a woman, with a liking for a name, without a touch of superstition, and with a will so indomitable as to make it impossible for her to compromise with her convictions, no matter how strongly prompted to do so by the calamities which befell her, or how often her simple and superstitious neighbors suggested compromise or surrender to her. The story is an inquiry into the reasons for liking or disliking the old woman's haunting question, "The why of like." Try to state the theme as a "moral," and you have something like this: If you tempt God with a foolish persistency, He will visit you with untold calamity. And this the author apparently does not believe. Assuredly he does not allow such a conviction to take possession of his principal character, Margaret Henan. To her the cause of calamity is just as much a mystery as it is to Job, for she, like Job, is unaware of any sin at all commensurate with her sorrows. GROUPS OF THEMES 1. The Exhibition of Some Natural Law, or Apparent Lawlessness of Nature. A story might be made to illustrate even so prosaic a thing as the physical law, Action and reaction are equal and in opposite directions. Likewise the philosophical law, Like causes produce like effects, might be embodied in a short story. These would be themes illustrating natural laws; but when De Maupassant shows how picking up a piece of string ultimately caused the death of an old peasant, his theme is the irony of fate. He shows how the effect of an insignificant action is sometimes out of all proportion to the cause. 2. An Illustration of a Phase of Human Nature.— In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson shows that both good and evil are in the nature of man, and that the lower, meaner part subdues the nobler if occasionally allowed to run riot. A deep conviction of the newer psychology was anticipated in Robert Herrick's The Master of the Inn. In this story he says that if the half-forgotten troubles of the soul which lie below the level of consciousness can be brought to the surface and aired in oral confession, the physical ills, indirectly caused by the blot on the soul, will vanish and leave the body strong and responsive to the will. One other illustration of this kind of theme is seen in James Lane Allen's Old King Solomon of Kentucky. No matter how low a man may sink, the story seems to declare, there is some spark of the heroic left in him, and this may be aroused if the stimulus be of the right kind, at the right time, and sufficiently strong. 3. The Exhibition of Some Human Passion in a Striking, Unusual, or Tense Situation. The passion most frequently exhibited in magazine fiction is love. But writers have used over and over all the elemental human passions, such as hate, fear, jealousy, indignation, superstition, devotion to duty, loyalty to friends or kinsmen, loyalty to clan. or country, and the like. Hamlin Garland's Among the Corn Rows is an excellent example of the story built upon the theme of love. Jealousy is the theme of James B. Connolly's The Truth of the Oliver Cromwell; Indignation is exhibited in Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman's The Revolt of Mother; Superstition, in Arthur Morrison's On the Stairs. The student should not expect to be able to relate every touch that the writer puts into his story to a single theme element, uncolored by others. For example, the setting of each of the stories mentioned in this group is so carefully treated that along with his main impression, his theme, the author, without doubt, was very much interested in the place and the people. The student needs to be warned against the statement of themes in terms so general that they do not discriminate at all. It is easy to say that a story is " 99 66 66 a love story, a southern story,' or a sea story "' without being specific about the truth of life which it contains. In most cases such designations apply to the setting and not to the theme at all. 4. The Reproduction of a Phase of Life in a Given Time, Place, or Occupation.- Authors do not ordinarily use place, time, and occupation as the themes of stories. These are usually nothing more than the setting, or background, for some theme of greater general interest. Once in a while, however, we see stories which appear to be written with no other purpose than to make a picture of life, bringing forward what is usually the background, and placing it in the focus of interest as the main theme. New England village life is exhibited in Mrs. Wilkins-Freeman's A Village Lear; life in old New Orleans and the South, in Mr. Cable's" Posson Jone'"; newspaper life, in Mr. Davis's A Derelict; and Colorado mining life in Mr. Garland's The Spirit of Sweetwater. |