Themes--the central meaning of a text
What is this work about? What evidence can you provide to reveal this is so? How is theme expressed through character or action, scenes or language, the social and material conditions within the text? What issues or ideas are raised? About individuals and their emotional, private or political lives? About social or racial justice? Are the ideas limited to members of the group represented by the characters (age, class, race, nationality, dominant culture)? Are these ideas applicable to general conditions of life? What values are embodied in the idea?