While a fictional story is written to delight and inspire, the ultimate goal of an author is to express a central idea, or a universal message known as the theme. The author logically reveals this message over the course of the story’s beginning, middle, and end. It starts with the title and continues throughout the progression of events: interactions between characters as they encounter a situation and deal with a problem and the lesson characters will have learned or failed to have learned. Also, give attention to key words and phrases and the repetition of them, as they are also clues. In all, an effective reader synthesizes key clues from the:
- Title
- Setting and background information
- Key character’s (s’) development over the course of the story
- Repetition of key words and/or phrases, whether figurative or literal language
- Symbolic messages – if applicable
- Conflict/problem
- Conflict/problem’s resolve
- Main character’s reaction to the problem’s resolution
- Story ends/wraps up