Theme is a special message people take away from a story. Sometimes themes can inspire and change people. People can learn the theme sometimes just from the title. Other times people find it in the resolution, the characters, or the big moments.

One story we read was “The Goblin Who Stole a Sexton”. This story was about a sexton who consorted with no one. He was mean to urchins who sang, he even hit one on the head with a lantern! All he drank is Hollands all the time. He got kidnapped by goblins. They made him drink liquid fire. Then he fell into repose. The goblins did this to Gabriel because he was mean to people. The goblins gave him payback. After all of this, he got put back on his rock. When he woke up he thought it was a dream, but then realized it wasn’t. He decided he couldn’t be seen in the town again because everyone knew him as being mean when he had become a nice person. So he ran away and people had suspicions about how he died. About ten years later, he decided to come back and tell people his story.

The theme in this story, I believe, is treat people the way you want to be treated. Also it could be if your bad then bad things happen to you. I found this theme in the characters and the big events. This could make people want to be nicer to others. Gabriel Grub is mean to little urchins and most everyone. Then he gets tortured by goblins. This torture was pay back for the way he treated others.

Another story we read was “The People Could Fly”. In this story, slaves were captured from Africa. They used to be able to fly but once they were captured they lost there wings. There is a woman, named Sarah, with a baby tied to her back. She is in the fields, working as a slave. One time, Sarah’s baby started to cry. The overseer yelled at her to shut it up, but she wasn’t allowed to stop working. It was impossible for Sarah to make it stop. The overseer got angry and whipped the baby. Then he whipped Sarah across the legs. Sarah pleaded with Toby, another slave, for help. She wanted to fly but didn’t have the magic. He came over and said some magic words and then Sarah and her baby started to fly. They flew all the way to freedom. Toby helped another slave the next day that had fallen from the heat. The overseers realize that it is Toby making all of the slaves fly. He almost gets whipped but just laughs and says the magic words. Then the magic words sets every slave on the plantation free. They fly across the sky like a group of black birds.

I believe the theme of this story is if you believe it can happen. I found this theme in the big events. All the slaves wanted, and believed, in freedom. Toby gave them that wish. This affected the reader because it could inspire people to believe in themselves.

I read a book called A Dogs Life: An Autobiography of a Stray. It was about a stray family of puppies living in a shed. The mother abandons the puppies so they all run off. Two of them stick together and travel around. They get found in a parking lot. A lady picks them up, but her boyfriend decides they can’t have both so he keeps one and drops one on the side of the road. The puppy hurts it’s nose and gets scratched. It then lives in the woods for a while. It eventually gets taken in by an older woman and has a good life.

The theme, for me, in this story is even if your life is bad, don’t give up, because it can get better. I found the theme in the big events, like when the puppy gets abandoned, dropped out of a car, and lives in the woods, but ends up getting a good home. This theme could help depressed people that think there life is bad and can’t take it anymore. It could inspire them to keep going because it will get better.

I found themes in these stories quite easily. Some other stories are harder, but every story has a theme. People find different themes. Not everyones thoughts are the same.