Stories usually also illustrate an idea which the author wants us to
think about. This is known as the theme of the story. In fables,
the theme of the story is the moral. To identify the theme, we must
understand how the characters, the plot, the setting and the tone relate
to each other. Many works of fiction have minor themes as well as
a main theme.
We can see how these elements work together to create a great story
by using Edgar Allan Poe's short horror story The Tell-Tale Heart
as an example. The setting is a prison in which a man explains
why he killed a man who had cared for him. The prisoner is a flat
character--we only know that he is obssessive. Through the
prisoner's narration, the reader is slowly made to feel his terror.
The tone, therefore, is more important in this story than the character--Poe
wants us to experience the terror of a man gone mad from guilt. The
theme of the story is the idea that feelings of guilt can drive
us mad. The events (the plot) in The Tell-Tale Heart
illustrate what can occur to someone suffering from guilt. Finally,
the title--The Tell-Tale Heart--also points to and reinforces the
theme.
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