The Common Theme

The Common Theme

Though seemingly straightforward, the word “theme” has confused legions of English students. In casual conversation, the word is often used to discuss a subject or recurring topic, while in more formal settings, it’s usually interpreted as a stand-in for the word “morals.” However, literary themes are far broader than subjects or morals. Instead, themes are central topics of a text which reveal universal truths--shown most clearly in “Hills Like White Elephants,” “The Story of an Hour,” and “The Thing Around Your Neck.”

Through sparing prose and dialogue, Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” delivers a barbed theme about human speech. Set as a conversation between an unnamed man and his girlfriend, Jig,  the story uses unsaid words and repressed emotions to show a devastating theme: regardless of a relationship’s strength, speaking honestly is almost impossible. This message is conveyed through the story’s ample use of dialogue: not to talk about the characters’ issues, but to talk around them. Though the story’s two characters are implied to be extremely close, repeatedly professing their love to each other, neither is able to vocalize their emotions about their present issue--or what the issue is. The man breaches the topic with defined hesitance, stating, “‘It’s an awfully simple operation, Jig… It’s really not anything,’” before changing the subject entirely. This brief line is Hemingway’s only mention of an underlying problem; the rest of the conversation is smothered in trivialities and stifled emotions, with the couple discussing everything from the tapestry to the shape of the hills to avoid what they need to say. Any attempt to convey emotion, including the girl’s expressions of sadness, are stifled immediately: “‘I’ll scream,’ the girl said… ‘I feel fine,’ she said. ‘There’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.’” This focus on unsaid words demonstrates the text’s underlying message: humans have a clinical inability to say what they feel. This sentiment exemplifies theme, as it conveys a central message of the story rather than a moral one. Instead of telling readers to vocalize their emotions, as a moral would, the theme of “Hills Like White Elephants” is the lack of vocalization. Through unfulfilling prose and unsaid words, Hemingway emphasizes man’s inherent silence without telling readers to take action against it, further exemplifying a theme as a central idea rather than a moral one.

In addition to exploring silence, literary themes are messages which cast light on human relationships, shown most clearly in Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour.” Through vivid descriptions and complex characters, Chopin delivers a stunning theme: as an unintentional byproduct of human nature, all relationships are inherently oppressive. The story delivers this message through Louise Mallard, a woman who receives news of her husband’s death. While initially devastated at the loss, Mrs. Mallard later realizes the advantages of being widowed: she owns herself absolutely. After reflecting on husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard states, “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.” Though this statement is often construed as a feminist cry--that Mrs. Mallard is cheering for freedom from a male oppressor--her rumination extends far beyond gender dynamics. Instead, Mrs. Mallard’s statement is a reflection on human relationships. In any relationship, by any party, a person must conform to others’ expectations. Louise Mallard was never herself when her husband was alive; she was Mrs. Mallard, and she acted according to the expectations Mrs. Mallard was subjected to. Through Louise’s unexpected joy at being widowed, Chopin demonstrates a facet of human nature: man is only himself in isolation. Again, this theme differs from a moral in that it refrains from telling readers to fix oppressive relationships; instead, it simply explores their existence.Through concise prose and subtle characterization, Chopin makes her theme about human oppression clear--while still refraining from a moral resolution.

While themes often explore universal human truths, they also elaborate on specific facets of modern life, as demonstrated by Adichie’s “The Thing Around Your Neck.” Through its discordant plot and characters, Adichie’s story delivers a tragic and setting-specific theme: the American Dream--perhaps a stand-in for any common aspiration--is far from absolute. This message is conveyed through a solemn narrator, referenced in second-person throughout the story, who moves from Nigeria to America and experiences a drastic shattering of expectations. Instead of the new beginning she expected, the narrator experiences racism and sexual harassment, leading her to feel “something… wrap itself around [her] neck, something that very nearly choked [her]  before [she] fell asleep.” Despire the narrator’s subsequent success in America, acquiring both a boyfriend and a stable job, the discontent represented by the nebulous “thing around [her] neck” remains present throughout the story. Through the racism the narrator experiences, as well as her white boyfriend’s ineffective attempts at empathy, this noose only tightens. Eventually, when the narrator discovers her father had died in Nigeria five months ago, this discontent chokes her: “You [the narrator] curled up in bed, pressed your knees to your chest, and tried to remember what you had been doing when your father died, what you had been doing for all the months when he was already dead.” This shattering of expectations demonstrates the story’s overarching theme: despite superficial attempts at change, racism is still prevalent in American society. Such a message exemplifies theme, as it conveys a central idea--that there is still a definite racial divide in America--rather than a one-word subject like “division” or a moral directive.

Though literary themes are often a subject of confusion, their existence as a distinct entity is a foundational aspect of literature. Indeed, it is through the avoidance of seemingly similar topics, such as subjects and morals, that themes gain their significance. Rather than telling readers the correct way to handle a situation, stories like “Hills Like White Elephants,” “The Story of an Hour,” and “The Thing Around Your Neck.” simply describe the situation. There are no morals. There is no right way. Readers are left with description and the implications therein, and that is what makes the stories so effective. Themes, in essence, are what readers take from literature. No Aesops. No one-word ideas. Instead, themes are overarching messages of literature--ones that remain far after the text has faded from memory.