Themes Vs. Morals

Morals and themes are as different as vegetables and cake. A moral is defined as something pertaining to right and wrong, while a theme is defined as a dominant idea. Morals can be reduced to snappy one-liners that people tend to gravitate towards, just as people choose to eat delicious cake. However, themes are more difficult for people to wrap their minds around and require a thorough exploration of the ideas in a text, just as vegetables require more effort to eat than cake. The short stories "Guests of the Nation," "Story of an Hour", and "What you Pawn I Will Redeem," by Frank O'Connor, Kate Chopin, and Sherman Alexie, all showcase the differences between themes and morals.