Understanding theme | Reading (video) | Khan Academy (2024)

Video transcript

- [David] Hello, readers. Today I want to talk about themes. A theme is an important idea that is woven throughout a story. It's not the plot or the summary, but something a little deeper. A theme links a big idea about our world with the action of a text. Sometimes a theme answers a question the story is trying to explore, like, "What does it mean to be a family?" Or, "What are we afraid of?" Themes will be statementsthat answer these questions, like, "You don't haveto be related to someone "for them to be your family." Or, "We are afraid oflosing our individuality." Now, theme is different from the main idea of a story or its summary. The main idea is whatthe story's all about, and the summary is theevents of the story. It's the plot, it's what happened. But the theme is a lesson or a message that you can take out of the story and apply to your own life. Themes are universal. That is to say, anyone can relate to them. So if I tell you a storyabout how I got food poisoning the one time I ate asketchy roadside hot dog instead of packing my own lunch, the theme isn't, "Avoid StickyPete's hot dogs on Route 91." The theme is "It pays to be prepared," because not everyone has a Sticky Pete's, but everyone can be prepared. Ugh, why did I eat it? Why is it green? A theme is similar to a moral. But a moral is moreabout a specific lesson it's trying to teach you. A theme could be a lesson,but it doesn't have to be. Sometimes you can discover the theme by asking yourself some big questions. What did the characters learn? How did they grow and change? Why did characters act the way they acted? What's different at the end of the story? And what stays with youafter the story is over? Let's go through a folk tale and see if answering these questions helps us to uncover the theme. This is a story about Anansi the Spider, a heroic trickster from West Africa. Anansi was clever, buthe wished to be wise. Wiser than everyone, in fact. He decided that he'd takeall the wisdom he could find, all the wisdom in the whole world, and gather it all insidea little clay pot. But he didn't like having it in the house, this pot of knowledge. "What if our kid knocks itover?" he asked his wife, Aso. "What if someone comes overin the night and steals it?" "Who's coming to steal yourpot, Anansi?" she asked. "Nobody even knows you have it." "It's not safe," Anansi cried. And he decided to hide it. "I'm going out," hesaid, "Don't follow me." "Whatever," said Aso, who went back to doing something thatwas actually useful. Anansi wandered through the forest, lugging this enormous clay pot of wisdom, never aware that his little son, Ntikuma, was following close behind. "Not tall enough," saidAnansi, looking at a cliff. "Not deep enough," hesaid, frowning at a canyon. "Ah-ha," said Anansi when hecame to the prickly thorn tree at the edge of the forestnear a little stream. "Now, this will do just fine." Anansi had many legs,and he was very strong. But even he could not climb the tree and carry the pot ofknowledge at the same time. He scrabbled up the tree,then slid back down again. He wiggled up the tree,then slid back down again. He clambered up the tree. "Hey, Dad," Anansi's son called out. "What, what? "I said nobody follow me. "What are you doing here?" Anansi cried. "You should tie the pot to your back, Dad. "Then you can use all yourlegs to climb the tree." He was right, but itdidn't matter to Anansi. "I'll teach ya to give meadvice, you little miscreant," Anansi yelled, shaking his fist, the same fist that held the handle to the pot full of wisdom. It went sailing into the airas time seemed to slow down. "Oh no," said Anansi. "Oh no," said Anansi's little son. And the pot smashed openright there in the stream, carrying all of Anansi'scarefully gathered up knowledge into the ocean, sending it out to the whole world once again. "You are in so much trouble,Ntikuma!" Anansi said, clambering back down the tree. And then he said, "Ow, ow,ow," because in his haste, he had poked himself onthe thorns of the tree. His son took of running for home, and Anansi raced after him. And as they ran, it began to rain. And as the rain came down,Anansi stopped running and began to walk and think. "Ntikuma's plan wouldhave worked after all." When he at least caught up with Ntikuma, he apologized for losing his temper. "What was the use of all that wisdom "if I can still be outsmartedby my little son?" he said. The two of them embraced, and because of Ntikuma'stimely interruption, a little bit of Anansi'sknowledge lives in us all today. So our questions checklist. What did the characters learn? Well, Anansi learned that even if he had all the wisdom in the world, a child could still havea better idea than him. How did the characters grow and change? Anansi apologized for losing his temper and realized that he wasn't theonly person with good ideas. "Why did characters actthe way they acted?" I think Anansi was greedy. Why else would he wanna haveall the wisdom in the world and not share it without anybody else? And, "What's differentat the end of the story?" At the end of the story, everybody gets a little bit from the pot of wisdom. It flows out into the oceanand gets sent to everybody. And Anansi realized that keepingall the wisdom to himself still didn't make himthe wisest all the time. Finally, "What stays withyou after the story is over?" The fact that all of us,you, me, your Aunt Matilda, all of us have a little bit ofAnansi's wisdom inside of us. So a theme of this story could be, "Anyone can have a good idea," or, "Wisdom is inside all of us." What theme would you give this story? Discuss it with your friends,your classmates, your family. And let us know. The theme of all of my videosis and shall forever be that you can learn anything. David out.