Theme vs Moral Paragraph

“Guests of the Nation,” a short story by Frank O’Connor, has a simple moral, but a very complex theme.  The moral of the story, reflected in the horrible things that the main character is forced to do, is that it is important to think before you do something that someone tells you to do, and that what seems wrong to you is usually wrong.  The story, however, explores a much broader and more complex theme, a theme about war and all of its gruesome realities.  The author describes in much detail the horrible things that war makes the soldiers do to good people.  When Hawkins is killed, the soldiers were forced to watch him painfully die, “We all stood very still, watching him settle out in the last agony” (O’Connor 24). These soldiers watched someone who had done nothing wrong live out his last moments in agony, adding to the theme of war and hardship.  We see two people get executed due to orders given by a higher power.  Once again, the theme and the moral are separate entities, although similar, the moral is much more specific.  This is an important thing to keep in mind when reading literature.

Themes Versus Morals Conclusion

     The morals of the aforementioned stories were not particularly profound. The morals were to always speak up for one’s beliefs, not to count the chickens before they hatch, and to live life to the fullest. However, the themes make the readers stop and think about what they have read. In the examples the themes were war and the inner challenges soldiers have to deal with, the institution of marriage and its effects on a woman’s mental health, and the struggles of the modern Native American. There is a clear difference in weight between the two. The author spends time thinking about his theme and allows the reader to decide what he or she thinks about a topic. The moral, on the other hand turns out to be fairly random. The theme is intentional while the moral is a byproduct of the story. 

Theme vs Moral in "What You Pawn I Will Redeem"

As illustrated in the short story, "What You Pawn I Will Redeem", by Sherman Alexie, moral and theme are two completely different literary devices. Throughout the narrative, Jackson Jackson, the main character, is on a quest to earn 1000 dollars to reclaim his grandmothers regalia. Finally, he wins the family heirloom back, and we are led to believe that the moral of the story is that the only way to get something is to work hard for it. Alternately, community, is a recurring theme, shown when Jackson Jackson states, “Indians like to belong, so we all pretended to be cousins” (Alexie 37). This is exhibited not only by the Indian community that is ever present, but in other characters such as Mary and Officer Williams, who are charitable and kind to Jackson Jackson in his journey. Many people often confuse the constant theme with the resolution oriented moral of a work of literate because of their similar but slightly different definitions.

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.

Themes vs. Morals

Within the context of short story writing, themes and morals are often used interchangeably. However, their synonymity is in actuality a common misconception. Morals teach generic life lessons that one infers from the plot, e.g. just behaviour, the merits of generosity, etc. On the other hand, themes are applicable to varying stories; they are analogous or representative of a bigger idea. The three short stories discussed in class  - “Story of an Hour,” "Guests of the Nation," and "What You Pawn I Will Redeem” - adeptly illustrate the contrast between comprehensive themes and idealistic morals.

Theme vs. Morals

The theme of the short story, "The Story of and Hour" by Kate Chopin is not a classic moral. In this work, the theme is that a woman who loses her loving husband is not necessarily a grieving widow. At the time it was written this would have been extremely controversial. We know this because in the text, the narrator states that, "An yet she had loved him... sometimes. Often she had not." She's not free, now that her husband is dead, because he was oppressive, it was simply because she didn't really love him.

Theme vs Moral

The final example proving that the theme and the moral are different is, "Story of an Hour." The theme throughout this short story is very grim. The husband always loved his wife, but his wife didn't really care about him, or even the fact that he loved her. “She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome." (Chopin 14). The wife initially was heartbroken that her husband had died because he had loved and treated her well; however, she was able to get over the loss much more quickly than most other people in her place. The theme of the book is, the wife detested having a husband because she felt like it held her back, but she also hated men in general, even if they did nothing wrong. The theme goes in further than that by proving that sexists and racists don’t have a base for their hate, only the fact that the other person is different than the sexist or racist. She felt like men held her back and she couldn't care less that her husband was a good man, only that he was a man. The moral of the story is different. There are many different morals that can be taken away after reading, but there is one that is very obvious. The most obvious moral is, if a person is exuberant that someone who has done nothing wrong is dead and the person who is happy is also very nefarious, then something extremely terrible will happen to the evil person.

Themes Vs. Morals Essay

Imagine a person without a conscience, it's analogous to a story without a theme or a moral. A theme and a moral are separate but connected aspects of a story. Themes are a necessary component to a story, but morals are an extra piece that elevate a story making it more robust and memorable. Morals draw the reader in, helping them make a connection to and internalize the work of literature. Morals may be devoid of original thought, but stories without them often seem hollow. The short stories "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, "Guests of the Nation" by Michael O'Connor and "What You Pawn I Will Redeem" by Sherman Alexie provide examples of morals and themes intertwined. 

Difference between Morals and Themes Paragraph

The short story of Guests of a Nation by Frank O’Connor refutes the synonymity between themes and morals by showing that sometimes there is not a moral to a story. The story of Guest of a Nation is set during the Irish Revolution and the plot mainly focuses on two Irish prison guards and their two English prisoners. The major conflict in this story is the moral grappling between the Irish following their orders to kill the prisoners they had bonded with or to let them free. This theme of the complicated ideals of duty vs. doing the morally correct thing is especially showcased when Hawkins, one of the British prisoners, volunteers to betray his people and fight with the Irish. Unfortunately for him, the Irish are too engrossed in their mental debate and would not answer as they knew “that was no way out” (O’Connor 23). Even by the end of the story, there is no clear cut point on which decision would be the right one. Donovan shoots Hawkins and makes the decision for the prison guards, making them leave this dilemma behind. However, there is no obvious moral to this story. This short story falls flat when a moral is imprinted on to it. Either decision that they could have made would have some benefits and drawbacks to it. This short story showcases that that stories always have themes, but sometimes do not have morals.

Six Word Story: The Machine

He watches himself building the machine.