U3 My Father Is A Simple Man - Theme

Define

Theme is the central idea or message an author expresses in a work of fiction, poetry, or drama. Sometimes an author explicitly
states a theme through a title, the words of a character, or a descriptive line. For example, the theme of most fables is stated at
the end of the text as a moral.

More often, though, themes grow and develop over the course of a text, and they are not directly stated at all. In this case, you
will have to infer the theme. When readers try to infer the theme of a story, novel, poem, or play, they usually ask themselves:
What is this text really about? Often, though, readers confuse the subject (or topic) of a text (what the text is about) with the
text’s theme. A topic can often be summed up in a word or two, while a theme is usually stated in a sentence. For example, the
topic of Aesop’s fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare,” is a road race. But the theme is “slow and steady wins the race,” or
“perseverance is more important than speed.”

Analyzing story elements and poetic features such as setting, characters, how they interact, and what they learn from resolving
a conflict in the plot, can help you identify the central idea or insight about human nature that the writer wishes to convey
through a work of literature.

Identification and Application:

●Themes are not usually stated directly, except in fables.

●Themes recur across an entire work or a significant portion of it.

●Themes can be inferred by looking at many aspects of a work of literature, including:

○the speaker’s tone

○specific details and images

○repetition of particular words

○characters’ thoughts, dialogue, and actions.

Model

Luis Omar does not directly state the theme or themes of his poem “My Father Is a Simple Man.” Instead, readers must look for clues to
figure out the theme, paying special attention to specific details and to repetition of particular words. Identifying the theme, or themes, in
any poem helps readers to understand and summarize the text and to appreciate and remember its meaning.
In “My Father Is a Simple Man,” the speaker walks to town with his elderly father to buy a newspaper. In lines 5 through 14, the two
argue over fruit:

We argue about the price of pomegranates. I convince
him it is the fruit of scholars.
He has taken me on this journey
and it’s been lifelong.
He’s sure I’ll be healthy
so long as I eat more oranges,
and tells me the orange
has seeds and so is perpetual;
and we too will come back
like the orange trees.

The speaker convinces his father that the pomegranate is “the fruit of scholars.” In this instance, the word “scholars” refers to men and
women of learning. The speaker implies that the pomegranate has a special value because of its association with learning and knowledge,
and that it is therefore worth its price.

Model

The speaker’s father, however, offers a different point of view. He uses the time spent walking with his son to instruct him, as he has
always done throughout their lives together, time which the speaker calls a “journey / ...lifelong.” Although the pomegranate indeed may
be the fruit of scholars, the father still prefers the more familiar orange, which is inexpensive yet also healthy and “perpetual” or
everlasting. The orange, the father tells his son, possesses seeds that continue to renew life into the future. The father’s preference for
the orange over the pomegranate is a clue to the poem’s theme. By contrasting these objects, the poet suggests that the greatest value
lies in the simplest things, and in the most basic aspects of being alive. The father is sharing seeds of wisdom with his son.
Tellingly, the speaker repeats the use of the word “scholar” in line 24. This time, however, the connotation of the word changes. Consider
lines 24 through 32:

The truth of it is, he’s the scholar,
and when the bitter-hard reality
comes at me like a punishing
evil stranger, I can always
remember that here was a man
who was a worker and provider,
who learned the simple facts
in life and lived by them,
who held no pretense.

Model

In this case, the speaker identifies his father as “the scholar.” Scholarship is no longer associated with buying pomegranates or with years
of specialized study; it is something that the speaker’s father has achieved in the course of everyday life. The speaker realizes that one
important model for scholarship is to be found in his father’s example. When life is “punishing,” one must continue to work hard and
provide for one’s family. The formula is “simple” but wise.

Finally, in lines 33 through 36, the speaker acknowledges that, while there is no fame or fanfare to be found in living one’s life simply and
honestly, there is greatness:

And when he leaves without
benefit of fanfare or applause
I shall have learned what little
there is about greatness.

Through the speaker’s choice of images such as oranges and repetition of words such as “scholar,” readers can begin to uncover clues
about the theme, or message, of the poem. The speaker discovers that his father is great, not because he attracts the attention of others,
but because he works hard and fulfills his duties to his family. With this idea, readers can infer a theme in the poem: Greatness is
measured not by public recognition but by having lived one’s life fully and responsibly.

Your Turn

Read this section from “My Father Is a Simple Man” to determine theme and answer the follow-up questions.

I ask him what he thinks
about death and he says
he will gladly face it when
it comes but won’t jump
out in front of a car.
I’d gladly give my life
for this man with a sixth
grade education, whose kindness
and patience are true . . .

Multiple Choice

Part A

Which sentence best summarizes the theme expressed in this section of the text?

• A son should give his life for his father.

• One’s character is more important than one’s achievements.

• Education is one’s most valuable asset.

• Death is something to be feared.

Multiple Choice

Part B

Which line(s) from the passage supports your response in Part A?

• “he will gladly face it when it comes”

• “this man with a sixth / grade education”

• “I’d gladly give my life”

• “whose kindness / and patience are true …”