Question

What is the subject of a story, and what is the theme?

Answer 1

Hint: There is a significant difference between the subject and theme of a story, although the surface definitions of both the words sound very similar.

Complete answer:
SUBJECT
- What a book or story is about is its subject.
- The subject of a fictional work is referred to as the plot.
- The subject of a nonfiction work is, once again, what the book is about in a factual way.
- A book's subject responds to the what question: what happened first, second, third, and so on.

THEME:
- The message or meaning that the work is attempting to communicate is referred to as the theme.
- It's a question of why. What motivated the author to write it? What is the author's main point trying to get across?
- A fiction writer of a murder mystery, for example, may be attempting to convey the message that appearances can be deceiving, and that we should think carefully and investigate further before concluding that someone is a murderer.
- The nonfiction author of a history of the ambassador to Berlin during a remarkable period of history may be attempting to convey the psychological stress and unease that even the most privileged people felt while living under a regime of surveillance and terror. That would be the message or theme that would linger long after the details faded.

Note: A story's theme is what the author is attempting to express — in other words, the story's core concept. The subject of the story is the subject on which it must be written.