Topic Versus Theme

A topic is a word or two; a theme is a full message about life.

Readers often mix up topic and theme. A topic is what a story is about, usually one or two words: friendship, courage, family, honesty. A theme is the message or lesson the story says about that topic, written as a complete sentence. For example, 'friendship' is a topic. 'True friends stand by you even when it's hard' is a theme. Two stories can share a topic but have different themes.

Imagine two stories about winning. In one, a runner cheats, wins, and feels empty, so the theme is 'Winning unfairly doesn't bring real happiness. ' In the other, a team loses but has fun, so the theme is 'Effort and teamwork matter more than winning. ' Test your answer: if it's only a word or two, it's a topic; turn it into a sentence about life.

• 1A topic is a word or two, like courage.
• 2A theme is a full-sentence message about life.
• 3Stories with the same topic can have different themes.