1. Classic books become classics because they speak to something universal in mankind. Despite changes in society and culture, they appeal to readers of all nationalities hundreds and even thousands of years after they were written. This is because they contain motifs recurring ideas, qualities, or values common to all human beings emphasized through the experience of the main character and other important characters or details of the story.

2. The major thing the author has to say about these motifs can be summarized in a theme statement: a unique and insightful sentence expressing the primary message or lesson of a book, stated in universal terms.

To formulate a theme statement for a book, complete the following steps:

• First, study what the author emphasizes about life or human nature throughout his story by paying attention to the details. 
• Next, explore important aspects of the story by asking the following questions:
• What is the conflict? Who won in the climax and why? What happens in the resolution? Does the main character change in the book? How and why? What qualities of character did the author wish us to admire in the book? What values? Are there values of the world the author strongly rejects?
• From answering these questions, several motifs should become apparent. List as many key motifs that you can come up with from the story.
• Finally, with a list of strong motifs, it is time to combine them into a theme statement. Decide which of the identified motifs are related to the major insight of the story, and eliminate those that are less important. It is sometimes helpful to combine some of the simple motifs.

An EXAMPLE of this process can be shown using the movie Its a Wonderful Life. Though not a book, it is a story known to many students. For those unfamiliar with it, the following synopsis, containing the basics of the story, is provided. Those familiar with the story should still read the synopsis to learn how to pick out the most crucial details of a story.

Synopsis: 

In the story Its a Wonderful Life, the main character, George Bailey, gives up a dream of architecture and world travel in order to run a family business that affects numerous lives in his community of Bedford Falls. He accepts a life of inglorious work, like his father, to ensure that the underprivileged in his city are not taken advantage of by the richest man in town, Mr. Potter. He watches enviously as high school classmates leave the small town for college, or to make their personal fortunes. One of these is Sam Wainwright, a joking, superficial personality, who goes off to make a fortune in manufacturing. When Sam makes George an offer to join him, not only does George turn him down, but he convinces Sam to establish a factory in Bedford Falls, to provide jobs for the unemployed of the city. When George starts a family with his selfless wife Mary, he continues to make sacrifices for the community, rejecting a lucrative offer to sell his business to Mr. Potter. One day, when an employee misplaces eight thousand dollars of company funds, George is faced with jail, scandal, and ruin. He thinks his life has done more harm than good for those he loves, and he contemplates suicide. Through the miraculous help of his guardian angel, however, George is shown what the world would have been like if he had never lived. He is shown the devastating things that would have happened to others had it not been for his sacrifices. He is struck with a sense of gratitude, and prays to have his life back. He returns to his wife, family, and community, resolving to accept whatever happens. As George is about to be taken to jail, the community, having learned of his plight from his wife, shows up to pay the misplaced funds from their own meager earnings, grateful for all that George has done for them.

1. What is the conflict? Who won in the climax and why? What happens in the resolution?

The main conflict is George versus himself. Although generous to others, his inner life is tortured and at worst even suicidal, as he battles agitation with his humble life, and whether his sacrifices have made any positive difference to himself or community. George wins in the climax when, in the midst of the dream-like world in which he sees the effect his absence would have had on the world, he prays for his life. In this moment, he overcomes his belittling view of himself, and sees that his humble life has had an important  effect on his community, saving the reputations and even lives of hundreds of people. The resolution, with the communitys strong show of love and support, reaffirms this importance to George.

2. Does the main character change in the book? How and why?

George changes from being discontent with his life to grateful for it. In the story, a miraculous trip through an imaginary world brings about this change, but more than this fantastical element, it is the realization that a humble life can make a difference that changes George on the inside.

3. What qualities of character did the author wish us to admire in the book? What values? Are there qualities or values of the world the author strongly rejects?  

The qualities one can admire in George are his self-sacrifice, humility, and his passion for the cause of justice for those in his community. Worldly values the story strongly criticizes are the base acquisition of wealth and personal ambition, seen in the lonely emptiness of Mr. Potter and the shallowness of Sam Wainwright.

4. From answering these sets of questions, several motifs become apparent. There are recurring motifs of:

Personal sacrifice (Georges life, Marys life), the importance of community, the hollowness of riches and ambition (seen in Mr. Potter and Sam), and the influence for good that each life has, which ones community can not do without.

Theme Statement

Finally, with a list of strong motifs, it is time to combine them into a theme statement, a unique, insightful stand-alone sentence that states the primary message of the story. Unique indicates that a theme statement is a statement in your own words, not a clich like Life is worth living or It is not what one has but who one is that is important. Insightful means that the statement should be detailed and convey a profound idea. Stand-alone means a theme should be its own complete sentence, not a motif or motif phrase worked into a sentence like The theme of this story is community, or The theme of this story is the importance of sacrificing for others.

Rather, a mature theme statement would be the following: The theme of Its a Wonderful Life is that, more than ambition and riches, a humble life of sacrifice for the sake of ones community is one of the most influential and irreplaceable contributions to humanity that one can make.

NOTE: A theme essay should discuss more than just the main character. In the Its a Wonderful Life example, Georges wife, Mary, also exhibits humility and sacrifice. Mr. Potter and Sam exhibit the ambition and riches part of the theme statement.

A way to check if your theme hits on the major message of the story is to see if it is in line with the main characters experience. Imagine if you were able to interview the main character at the end of the story. What would be the detailed message or lesson the character would say he had learned from his experience? Because we tend to identify so closely with the main character of a story, often what he learns is what we learn. One can imagine that George Bailey would say that the primary message he learned from his experience is one like the theme statement above.

Plagiarism is using the ideas and/or words of another in a test or essay and presenting them as your own.

The following actions are considered plagiarism:

• Using the exact words of another without using quotation marks and citing the source
• Using the ideas of another without citing the source
• Using paraphrase of a text and citing it, but expressing it in words or sentence structure so similar to the original that it is almost a quotation

Analyzing book-specific elements like personality, morality, theme, and conflict, in the light of the Catholic Faith, reveals how literary characters and situations teach us important things about the human condition.

Therefore, these essays, like the exercises, call for no research other than a close reading of the books themselves and careful individual thought on the part of the student. SetonOnline resources like the Chapter Notes and Lectures can provide helpful context for the student. Keep in mind the following:

• When you use exact words from the literary texts, put these words in quotation marks.
• Quotes must be cited. Put the page number in parentheses immediately after the closing quotation marks of a quote. (See the .)