The Giver Themes

Theme in The Giver

by Maureen Douglas

​Objectives

​To define theme

​To explore universal themes in life

​To articulate theme in The Giver

​

​Good News!

​What's your good news?

Multiple Choice

What is theme? 

• A work of literature that is a combination of science and made up stories 

• Something tangible that represents something else

• A universal message that we can learn from a novel, situation, etc. 

• An statement that is exaggerated

​Theme

​Theme is the universal message that people can learn from literature, movies, life, etc.

​

​What does the term universal mean?

​

​Think of what is found in the

UNIVERSE

Open Ended

What are some themes in life that you choose to live by?

​The Rules for Theme

• ​Themes must be universal!

• ​Themes must be a sentence

• ​Themes are never character specific

• ​Avoid cliches

• ​Avoid words like "always" or "never"

​Steps to Find Theme

• ​1. Think of words that encapsulate the book.

• 2. Ask yourself "What about that word can we learn from our book?"

• ​3. Articulate your theme in one-two sentences!

• ​

• ​Theme: One sentence that shows ups what we can learn from text!!

• ​Topic: One word that is relevent to text

Open Ended

Write 3 topics (1 word each) that are discussed in The Giver.

​Our Topic(s)...

​What about that topic did we learn in The Giver?

​

​Let's brainstorm!

​

​Remember your rules! (No absolutes, universal, not character specific, whole sentence!)

Open Ended

Please write one theme that you gathered from The Giver below.