ELEC 1: CREATIVE WRITING Module 7

LESSON: SHORT STORY ELEMENT: THEME

Lesson Proper:

A. What is short story?

✓ A short story is a work of prose fiction that can be read in one sitting—usually between 20 minutes
to an hour. There is no maximum length, but the average short story is 1,000 to 7,500 words, with
some outliers reaching 10,000 or 15,000 words.
✓ The short story genre is well suited to experimentation in prose writing style and form, but most short
story authors still work to create a distinct mood using classic literary devices (point of view, imagery,
foreshadowing, metaphor, diction/word choice, tone, and sentence structure).

B. What is the history of the short story?

✓ Short-form storytelling can be traced back to ancient legends, mythology, folklore, and fables found
in communities all over the world. Some of these stories existed in written form, but many were
passed down through oral traditions. By the 14th century, the most well-known stories included One
Thousand and One Nights (Middle Eastern folk tales by multiple authors, later known as Arabian
Nights) and Canterbury Tales (by Geoffrey Chaucer).
✓ It wasn’t until the early 19th century that short story collections by individual authors appeared more
regularly in print. First, it was the publication of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, then Edgar Allen Poe’s
Gothic fiction, and eventually, stories by Anton Chekhov, who is often credited as a founder of the
modern short story.
✓ The popularity of short stories grew along with the surge of print magazines and journals.
Newspaper and magazine editors began publishing stories as entertainment, creating a demand for
short, plot-driven narratives with mass appeal. By the early 1900s, The Atlantic Monthly, The New
Yorker, and Harper’s Magazine were paying good money for short stories that showed more literary
techniques. That golden era of publishing gave rise to the short story as we know it today.

C. What are the different types of short stories?

✓ Short stories come in all kinds of categories: action, adventure, biography, comedy, crime, detective,
drama, dystopia, fable, fantasy, history, horror, mystery, philosophy, politics, romance, satire,
science fiction, supernatural, thriller, tragedy, and Western. Here are some popular types of short
stories, literary styles, and authors associated with them:
• Fable: A tale that provides a moral lesson, often using animals, mythical creatures, forces
of nature, or inanimate objects to come to life (Brothers Grimm, Aesop)
• Flash fiction: A story between 5 to 2,000 words that lacks traditional plot structure or
character development and is often characterized by a surprise or twist of fate (Lydia Davis)
• Mini saga: A type of micro-fiction using exactly 50 words (!) to tell a story
• Vignette: A descriptive scene or defining moment that does not contain a complete plot or
narrative but reveals an important detail about a character or idea (Sandra Cisneros)
• Modernism: Experimenting with narrative form, style, and chronology (inner monologues,
stream of consciousness) to capture the experience of an individual (James Joyce, Virginia
Woolf)
• Postmodernism: Using fragmentation, paradox, or unreliable narrators to explore the
relationship between the author, reader, and text (Donald Barthelme, Jorge Luis Borges)
ELEC 1: CREATIVE WRITING Module 7

• Magical realism: Combining realistic narrative or setting with elements of surrealism,

dreams, or fantasy (Gabriel García Márquez)
• Minimalism: Writing characterized by brevity, straightforward language, and a lack of plot
resolutions (Raymond Carver, Amy Hempel)

D. Short Story Element: THEME

✓ Theme describes the central idea(s) that a piece of writing explores. Rather than stating this theme
directly, the author will look at theme using the set of literary tools at their disposal. The theme of a
story or poem will be explored through elements like characters, plot, settings, conflict, and even
word choice and literary devices.
✓ Theme definition: the central idea(s) that a piece of writing explores.
✓ Theme is more than just an idea. It is also the work’s specific vantage point on that idea. In other
words, a theme is an idea plus an opinion: it is the author’s specific views regarding the central ideas
of the work.
✓ All works of literature have these central ideas and opinions, even if those ideas and opinions aren’t
immediate to the reader.
✓ Justice, for example, is a literary theme that shows up in a lot of classical works. To Kill a
Mockingbird contends with racial justice, especially at a time when the U.S. justice system was
exceedingly stacked against African Americans. How can a nation call itself just when justice is used
as a weapon?
✓ By contrast, the play Hamlet is about the son of a recently-executed king. Hamlet seeks justice for
his father and vows to kill Claudius—his father’s killer—but routinely encounters the paradox of
revenge. Can justice really be found through more bloodshed?
✓ What is theme? An idea + an opinion.
✓ Clearly, these two works contend with justice in unrelated ways. All themes in literature are broad
and open-ended, allowing writers to explore their own ideas about these complex topics.

E. 20 Common Themes in Literature

Theme Theme Definition Theme Examples
What comes around, goes around. The
• Where the Red Fern
Circle of Life dwells on life’s transience
Circle of Life Grows by Wilson
and impermanence: how death isn’t death,
Rawls
just an evolution.
• Jane Eyre by
Also known as a bildungsroman, Coming
Charlotte Bronte
of Age involves the intense experiences of
Coming of Age • Great
growing up, and how these experiences
Expectations by
shape the future of the protagonist.
Charles Dickens
Whether it’s faith in God, other people, or • The Brothers
Faith vs Doubt the protagonist’s own self, believing isn’t Karamazov by
easy—but is it worth doing anyway? Fyodor Dostoevsky
Many families are connected by blood, but • Anna Karenina by
to overcome certain obstacles, literary Leo Tolstoy
Family
families must strengthen their ties to each • Homegoing by Yaa
other. Gyasi
ELEC 1: CREATIVE WRITING Module 7

• Pachinko by Min Jin

Lee
• Brother & Sister
Enter the Forest by
Richard Mirabella
• Romeo & Juliet by
How much of our actions are decided by
William Shakespeare
Fate vs Free Will fate, and how much does free will really
• The Alchemist by
control?
Paulo Coelho
One can argue that every story is about • Doctor Faustus by
good vs evil, assuming the story has a Christopher Marlowe
protagonist and antagonist. Still, good and • The Strange Case of
Good vs Evil
evil are in eternal conflict with each other, Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
so writers must document how this conflict Hyde by Robert Louis
evolves. Stevenson
Hubris refers to excessive self-confidence • Frankenstein by
Mary Shelley
and the terrible decisions that arise from it.
• The Iliad by Homer
Hubris Many works of literature explore hubris as • The story of Adam &
man’s defiance of God/the gods, or else
Eve in The Book of
man himself playing God. Genesis
At some point in their life, the protagonist • Kafka on the
asks the question: who am I? Shore by Haruki
Additionally, “Identity” refers to the Murakami
Identity • The Idiot by Elif
qualities that make one person distinct
Batuman
from another. How much of a • Encircling by Carl
difference exists between you and I? Frode Tiller
• To Kill a
What makes a society just? What are the Mockingbird by
Harper Lee
proper consequences for people who do
• Hamlet by William
Justice the wrong thing? Who is best equipped to Shakespeare
dispense justice? Are we collectively • Crime and
responsible for each other’s actions? Punishment by
Fyodor Dostoevsky
• Colorless Tsukuru
Loneliness affects the way people think, Tazaki and His
act, and view the world. The theme of Years of
loneliness charts how certain characters Pilgrimage by
Loneliness Haruki Murakami
contend with their loneliness, and whether
man can survive this disconnection from • “A Clean, Well-
others. Lighted Place” by
Ernest Hemingway
ELEC 1: CREATIVE WRITING Module 7

• Lord of the Flies by

William Golding
Man’s natural inclination is to dominate the
• Into the Forest by
Man vs Nature land, but nature has its own means of
Jean Hegland
survival. • Power by Linda
Hogan
Sometimes, the protagonist is their own
• Their Eyes Were
adversary. In order to overcome certain
Man vs Self Watching God by
challenges, the protagonist must first
Zora Neale Hurston
overcome their own internal conflicts.
• Nineteen Eighty-
When the story’s antagonist is society-at- Four: A Novel by
George Orwell
large, the protagonist must convince the
• The Handmaid’s
Man vs Society world that it’s sick—or else die trying.
Tale by Margaret
Some protagonists also try to escape Atwood
society altogether. • Fahrenheit 451 by
Ray Bradbury
Power corrupts, and absolute power
corrupts absolutely. This theme is often • In the Time of the
Butterflies by Julia
Power and closely related to “Man vs Society.”
Alvarez
Corruption Additionally, “Power” can refer to a • Animal Farm by
person’s political leadership, personal George Orwell
wealth, physical prowess, etc.
• Wuthering
Heights by Emily
Love makes the world go round, but it’s not Bronte
always easy to find. Whether it’s romantic, • Why be Happy When
Pursuit of Love familial, or platonic love, there’s much to You Could be
be said about love’s pursuit—and the Normal? By Jeanette
conflict that comes from pursuing it. Winterson
• Emma by Jane
Austen
When someone wrongs you or the people
• The Count of Monte
you love, revenge is tempting. But, is
Revenge Cristo by Alexandre
revenge worth it? Can revenge beget
Dumas
justice? And how far is too far?
When you truly love someone, you’re
willing to sacrifice everything for them. • Beloved by Toni
Morrison
Sacrificial Love Sacrifice is a component of all themes
• The Leavers by Lisa
concerning love, though this is especially
Ko
true for stories about motherly love.
When survival is at stake, people discover • Sir Gawain and the
Survival the limits of their own power. The literary Green Knight, author
theme of survival applies to stories about unknown
ELEC 1: CREATIVE WRITING Module 7

being lost in the wilderness, but it also • Oryx and Crake by

applies to stories about the survival of Margaret Atwood
ideas, groups, and humanity-at-large. • Heart of Darkness by
Joseph Conrad
Whether it’s because of technology,
climate change, or our increasingly online • My Year of Meats by
world, man’s relationship to the Ruth Ozeki
The Environment
environment is ever-evolving. Themes in • Prodigal Summer by
literature concerning the environment Barbara Kingsolver
often coincide with “man vs nature.”
• For Whom the Bell
Mankind has been at war with itself since Tolls by Ernest
Hemingway
the dawn of civilization. The causes of war,
• The Red Badge of
War as well as its impacts on society, are topics
Courage by Stephen
of frequent musing by writers—especially Crane
writers who have been at war themselves. • The Art of War by
Sun Tzu

References:
https://www.blurb.com/blog/what-is-a-short-story/
https://writers.com/common-themes-in-literature