Da VIP Academy / GED / RLA / Reading Literary Text
Character, Theme & Plot
Analyze character motivation, theme, and how events shape meaning.
How it works
Character is shown, not announced
Judge characters by what they do, say, and notice. A character who recounts the register twice is telling you something about himself without saying it.
Theme is a claim about life
A topic is one word ('work'). A theme is a sentence: 'Quiet consistency can be its own form of hope.'
Worked examples
State the theme of 'Late Shift'.
- Topic: a low-wage night job.
- What changes: how Deion understands his mother.
- Theme: endurance can be a promise kept, not just strength.
Words to know
- Theme
- The larger message a story conveys about life.
- Characterization
- How an author reveals what a character is like.
Test-day tips
- • A theme choice that mentions only plot events is usually a summary, not a theme.