21st Century Literature Themes - Pre-Requisite Assessment

This refers to the main idea or underlying meaning a writer explores in a literary work.

• Theme

• Characterization

• Cultural Implication

• Plot

A theme can also be called:

• plot

• central idea

• main conflict

• moral

Which among the following will you exclude in finding the theme of a story?

• What conflict is faced by the main character?

•   What recurring symbolism have you observed while reading the story?

• What lesson can you take away from the story?

• Where did the author write the story?

Read and analyze the following text. The following lines are excerpt from the Homer’s Iliad, particularly the farewell between Hector and his wife Andromache.

 

His wife Andromache then makes a tearful speech to Hector, begging him to be more careful and stay behind the battlements more often. For with Hector gone she and her son will be alone in this world:

“But Hector you are father and honored mother and brother to me, as well as my strong husband. Please feel pity for us, stay here on the battlements, so you do not make an orphan of your child and your wife a widow.”

 

“Wife, I too have thought upon all this, but with what face should I look upon the Trojans, men or women, if I shirked battle like a coward? I cannot do so: I know nothing save to fight bravely in the forefront of the Trojan host and win renown alike for my father and myself. Well do I know that the day will surely come when mighty Ilius shall be destroyed with Priam and Priam’s people, but I grieve for none of these- not even for Hecuba, nor King Priam, nor for my brothers many and brave who may fall in the dust before their foes- for none of these do I grieve as for yourself when the day shall come on which some one of the Achaeans shall rob you forever of your freedom, and bear you weeping away.”

 

Question: What line from the excerpt implies pride?

 

•    “Wife, I too have thought upon all this, but with what face should I look upon the Trojans, men or women, if I shirked battle like a coward? I cannot do so: I know nothing save to fight bravely in the forefront of the Trojan host and win renown alike for my father and myself.”

• “But Hector you are father and honored mother and brother to me, as well as my strong husband. Please feel pity for us, stay here on the battlements, so you do not make an orphan of your child and your wife a widow.”

•    “Well do I know that the day will surely come when mighty Ilius shall be destroyed with Priam and Priam’s people, but I grieve for none of these- not even for Hecuba, nor King Priam, nor for my brothers many and brave who may fall in the dust before their foes-“

   

• “…for none of these do I grieve as for yourself when the day shall come on which some one of the Achaeans shall rob you for ever of your freedom, and bear you weeping away.”

   

The following is an excerpt from the Odyssey. What important Greek custom is implied the lines?

 

Telemachus saw Athene and went straight to the forecourt, the heart within him scandalized that a guest should still be standing at the doors. He stood beside her and took her by the right hand, and relieved her of the bronze spear, and spoke to her and addressed her in winged words: ‘Welcome, stranger. You shall be entertained as a guest among us. Afterward, when you have tasted dinner, you shall tell us what your need is.’ And he led her and seated her in a chair splendid and elaborate. For her feet there was a footstool. For himself, he drew painted bench next her, apart from the others, the suitors for fear the guest, made uneasy by the uproar. Might lose his appetite there among overbearing people.

 

• Greeks are highly intelligent people with great sense of humor.

• Greeks value women by not letting them stand for too long.

• Greeks are hospitable even among strangers.

• Greeks like to share their food even to their neighbors.

   

What virtue is implied in the following lines from Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s Don Quixote?

“Whoever says that Don Quixote de la Mancha has forgot, or can forget, Dulcinea del Toboso, I will make him know with equal arms that he departs wholly from the truth; for the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso cannot be forgotten.”

• loyalty

• compassion

• self-control

• courage

Read the poem below 

 

To the Virgins to Make Much of Time

By Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

 

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old Time is still a-flying;

And this same flower that smiles today

Tomorrow will be dying.

 

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,

The higher he’s a-getting,

The sooner will his race be run,

And nearer he’s to setting.

 

That age is best which is the first,

When youth and blood are warmer;

But being spent, the worse, and worst

Times still succeed the former.

 

Then be not coy, but use your time,

And while ye may, go marry;

For having lost but once your prime,

You may forever tarry.

What does the world “prime” in the last stanza refer to?

• wealth

• youth

• privilege

• confidence

Read the poem below 

 

To the Virgins to Make Much of Time

By Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

 

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old Time is still a-flying;

And this same flower that smiles today

Tomorrow will be dying.

 

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,

The higher he’s a-getting,

The sooner will his race be run,

And nearer he’s to setting.

 

That age is best which is the first,

When youth and blood are warmer;

But being spent, the worse, and worst

Times still succeed the former.

 

Then be not coy, but use your time,

And while ye may, go marry;

For having lost but once your prime,

You may forever tarry.

What is the central message of the poem?

• Do not get married.

• Always wear a smile.

• Seize the day.

• Be confident.

Read the following poem:

 

 

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost

 

 

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

 

 

         What does the diverging roads depict?

 

• destiny

• life choices

• fate

• important events

In which situation would the poem "Road not taken" be closely related to?

• Choosing a course in college

• Taking care of your parents

• Passing an exam

• Building your dream house