Theme, Topic & Symbols.

Audio Transcript Auto-generated

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  theme topic and symbols.

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  This is Part two.

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  We did a lesson on Monday.

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  Now we're going to review it, and I'm going to

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  reveal the answers to the legend of the Christmas spider.

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  Okay, as I told you on Monday and throughout the

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  week, our content is to use details from the text

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  to determine the theme or message of a story.

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  This comes from standard to our language.

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  Is Thio understand the use of symbolism and how it

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  contributes to the theme Our social is to understand how

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  to use top universal themes in literature and how they

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  relate to our cultures.

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  What is symbolism?

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  Symbolism is when the author uses an object or reference

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  toe, add deeper meaning to a story.

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  Symbolism is used to provide meaning to the writing beyond

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  what is actually being described.

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  A symbol can enhance a theme idea or a character.

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  Let's look at a spider and a spider web.

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  The symbol of a spider is about mystery and growth.

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  They can represent the power to construct reality through our

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  decisions. Together with a Web, both Spider and Web are

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  symbolic of fate, destiny and the crazy ways we cross

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  paths in life's diverse web.

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  Not only do spiders and their webs draw attention to

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  our life choices, they also give us an overview of

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  how we can manipulate our thinking in order to construct

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  the life we wish to live.

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  Symbolism can help communicate more meaning.

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  So let's look at the legend of the Christmas spider.

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  The Legend of the Christmas spider had three symbols in

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  it. The first was the spiders.

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  The spiders in this tale represent difference and the desire

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  to be accepted seclusion and mercy.

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  They can also represent the beauty of nature.

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  Think back to the basic symbolism of a spider, where

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  it said that it represents a different part of us

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  and the choices we have to make and the deeper

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  meaning of life in a lot of ways.

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  That's what this story was trying to tell us.

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  All the spiders wanted was a chance to live and

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  beloved and accept it.

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  The Web can represent the beauty of nature, the choices

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  in life, acceptance of beauty and acceptance of difference and

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  mercy. So when you think about it, the Christ child

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  who came in lit up the spiderwebs toe look like

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  silver and gold and tinsel and the people in the

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  story decided that it was time to accept the spiders

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  and the beauty that they brought to the world.

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  Even though it was different.

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  It was a life choice.

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  The Christ child stood for mercy, understanding and forgiveness.

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  Now, if you said Jesus in your answers, that's okay.

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  But just understand that it was a little bit more

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  than that because, according to this legend, that was supposed

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  to symbolize the things that we as humans are supposed

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  to do for others.

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  Now let's talk about a topic.

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  I'm sure you've seen a bubble map or something like

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  this before, where somebody says the who, the what, the

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  Why the how or the purpose?

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  And that is exactly what topic means when I ask

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  you what is the topic of your story.

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  Topics are typically Onley 1 to 2 words and sometimes

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  three but nevermore and there never a full sentence Theme

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  versus Topic.

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  A theme is your central message conveyed through the writing,

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  whereas the topic is the subject matter discussed in the

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  writing theme will explain to you with particular piece of

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  writing was written, and the topic is going to explain

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  what the writing is about.

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  Theme is never directly stated in the work, whereas the

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  topic is generally directly given in the work.

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  Sometimes in the title theme is specific as it reflects

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  an opinion.

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  But topic is more general as it denotes the subject.

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  Let's look at some examples on the left.

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  We have topics, and on the right we have themes.

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  Topic, number one, friendship, betrayal, revenge, love and forgiveness.

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  So these air all the topics.

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  Let's look at the right.

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  We all have our own strength.

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  We need to take care of the world.

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  Actions air greater than words.

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  Cheaters never prosper, and preparation is better than luck.

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  Notice how the ones on the right teach us a

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  lesson, whereas the ones on the left are just words

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  that give us a broad overview of what something could

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  be about.

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  This is the difference between theme and topic.

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  To help you with a little bit more.

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  I have another slide topic versus theme.

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  So again, Topic tells what a story is mostly about.

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  In a word or two, theme is the big idea

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  or what the author wants you to take away.

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  Let's look at courage.

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  The topic is just courage.

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  But the theme is it takes courage to do the

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  right thing.

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  Let's talk about justice.

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  Justice is the topic, but the theme is actions have

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  consequences. Honesty is your topic.

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  The theme would be Always tell the truth.

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  The last one is love, but know that there's all

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  kinds of love.

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  So this could really go anywhere.

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  And in this case, we're saying it's better toe love

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  than hate.

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  One word.

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  Topics are not themes, but you can use the topics

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  to find the theme.

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  On Monday, this image was in your notes.

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  You were supposed to write these down thes air what

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  we call theme topics, and these air considered the top

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  10 theme topics in literature.

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  There are many, many, many more theme topics in the

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  world. These air just the top 10.

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  So you had judgment, survival, peace and war, love, heroism,

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  good and evil, circle of life, suffering, deception and coming

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  of age.

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  If you did not write these down on Monday, I

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  strongly encourage you to do so.

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  Today they're very helpful.

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  When you're reading something toe.

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  Look back at now, you might be reading something that

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  doesn't actually fall under one of these top 10 or

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  it does.

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  But it has some other topics that match to it,

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  and that's okay.

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  This is just a starting point to help you understand.

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  Theme topic.

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  But remember, you can't just say when I asked what

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  is the theme and write down good and evil, because

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  then I'm going to say, That's your topic.

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  What is the theme?

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  What did you learn?

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  What was the lesson taught about good and evil?

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  So please make sure that you're always always, ah, little

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  more in explanation.

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  So now let's talk about seeing theme is the main

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  message. It's what the author wants you to learn or

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  no, it's a broad idea about life, and it's usually

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  not stated in the story you must in for it.

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  It will be between one and two sentences and length.

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  It will be vague and not a plot summary.

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  It will use abstract concepts that dominate the literary work

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  to push their message by abstract concepts.

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  I mean the topics like love, betrayal, honesty, justice to

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  help you.

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  I've created a theme statements, sentence frame.

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  This is how to write a theme statement.

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  You start with the very top the genre, Which is

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  What are you reading?

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  Is it a story of folk tale, a poem, a

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  book? Whatever the genre is, then you put a comma

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  and then the title of the piece, and then by

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  and the author.

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  If there is no author, you can give a little

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  more explanation about what you're reading, and then you put

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  is about.

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  And this is where you state your theme topic or

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  topics because, yes, they could have more than one.

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  So you choose love, betrayal, revenge.

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  Whatever your theme topic is about.

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  And then you put and reveals that in the next

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  part, and the last part is the lesson to make

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  us better human beings.

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  This is sometimes called human nature or the human condition.

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  So essentially, you want to see how the theme topic

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  can help teach us to be better by teaching us

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  something about humanity.

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  So let's take this sentence frame and let's apply it

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  to the tail of the Christmas Fighter.

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  The story of the Legend of the Christmas Spider, a

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  German Ukrainian folk tale, is about acceptance and appreciation for

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  all who exist or are different, and reveals that if

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  we accept others as they are.

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  We accept that they bring beauty and love to our

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  world. So according to the top 10 literary theme topics,

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  this story's theme topic must be about judgment in love.

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  Because if you look at what we're saying acceptance, appreciation,

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  those that fall underneath judgment, also saying that we need

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  to learn how to accept others so we can bring

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  more beauty and love to our world is love.

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  Love encompasses all of these things.

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  When we learn to stop judging people and we learn

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  to stop accepting them, we grow in love.

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  And in this case, it was the spiders who just

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  wanted to be accepted so that they could enjoy the

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  beauty that was in the story.

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  I hope this sentence them helps you.

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  When you go back to this video, you can pause

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  on that side and you can write down your theme

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  statement for right now, I want us to move ahead,

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  and I want us to talk about how symbolism and

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  topic help us develop the theme.

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  Knowing your basic topic of a story can help you

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  focus on the lessons beyond the topic or behind the

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  topic. Knowing symbolism and the deeper meaning that it represents

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  shows what the authors intentions were of the lesson and

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  buy. It provides us a deeper meaning to something that

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  we find familiar.

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  For example, you knew what spider webs were.

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  You knew what spiders were you many of you knew

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  what tinsel waas.

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  So when you think about it, using those different symbols

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  was something that was familiar to you and helped you

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  learn a deeper meaning.

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  It's a lot better than the author just coming out

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  and saying, Be better, accept others.

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  Well, that's great and all.

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  But sometimes we need a story to kind of push

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  us a little bit more to be better at this

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  time. I want you guys to go to canvass.

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  It is time for your assignment on the little match

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  girl. I will go through the story with you.

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  You will listen to an audio of it.

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  We will watch the Disney silent film of it, and

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  then you will read the story and answer the questions.

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  The questions are very similar to the questions you had

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  yesterday on the tail of the Christmas spider, with one

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  little extra one, just to see how you could do

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  with it.

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  Now it is an assignment, so I will be giving

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  feedback and going over answers at some point.

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  But do your very, very best.

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  I want you to try to get every question right

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  in. The best effort will come with the best rewards,

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  I promise.

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  Also, make sure you study go back over this lesson

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  and the lesson from Monday before your quiz tomorrow.

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  Tomorrow's quiz will be on a story called How Santa

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  Claus Found the Poor House.

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  I will be available on Friday for emails, and if

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  you need to drop in on my office hours from

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  3 to 4, if you want help with the quiz,

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  the quiz is going to be unlimited attempts.

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  You can attempt to get the answers right as many

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  times as you need.

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  Thio. Alright for today, though, let's focus on the little

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  match girl.