Theme and its Importance

A detailed Summary of Theme and its Importance

Theme is the principal phrase or idea behind a story. It plays an important role in the notable accomplishment of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery", "The Open Boat" written by Stephen Crane, and "Battle Royal" by Ralph Ellison. Each of these stories portray an important and powerful theme which is a valuable contribution to the success of each work.

"The Lottery" is a story about human sacrifice and tradition. It is nicely written with a total control of the point-of-view, which prevents readers from realizing the ending even with symbolic hints and foreshadowing. The ironic situation of the story is that usually a lottery serves the winner with a good prize. However, the winner of the lottery in this story is stoned to death. The small group of townspeople gathered to participate in the traditional lottery must choose a piece of paper out of a black box. The paper with the black circle on it means that person is selected to die. Both the black box and the black circle symbolize death and fate itself. This lottery is such an old tradition that the villagers have forgotten when and how it originated. One of the oldest men in town, Old Man

"The Open Boat" features naturalism and egocentrism as the main theme. Readers learn about human insignificance and how we are but a speck in the universe. Four male survivors of a shipwreck are stranded inside a ten-foot dingy, or life boat. The story shows how these four remained united in brotherhood and helped each other through this atrocity. The characters believe that they will be saved throughout the entire story. Stephen Crane made a good point in not providing names for three of the four characters. This stresses how insignificant we are to nature. Nature does not care who has a name or who does not. The characters are concerned with only themselves and believe that everyone else is looking for them. In fact, they light cigars when they believe they will be saved when spotted by someone from land. In all actuality, no one even knows or cares about them. No one is looking for them. They are too filled with their own self-importance. Nature takes them down a notch or two. Not only are these men egocentric, but they also come to realize that death and suffering is only really important when it becomes reality. No one is concerned until they themselves are facing a life-threatening situation themselves. The remaining crew also believes that nature will help them survive. The brutal reality that the characters help teach readers is that nature does not care to help or hurt anyone. Nature is unconcerned with human suffering. When the survivors decide to try and ride the crest towards the land and attempt swimming to shore, three out of the four make it alive. It is just by chance

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Approximate Word count = 1075
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English