A Point on Points :)

Please take out your ELA  NOTEBOOK.. 

When asked to discuss an author's "point," you are being asked about the ultimate subtext, the Big Shaboozie of subtexts, if you will.

The author's point is the main message or idea communicated to the audience. The official term is theme. 

When discussing the "point" or "theme" of a story, you MUST USE GENERAL LANGUAGE.

HOWEVER: To prove that the theme exists, you must refer to SPECIFIC details or text evidence. 

Consider the T.D.P strategy: Every text as a Topic (general)  with Details or events (specific text evidence) that lead to a general  Point  or message about the Topic.

Rule of Thumb: A properly expressed theme from a fictional story can be applied to real life scenarios.

Example

A theme of Stephen King's short story, "The Man in the Black Suit" is that evil or traumatizing events (a general topic) often ( a good general  term to use) occur randomly and can impact anyone, even innocent people.

What details from the story can I use to back this idea up?


Rule of Thumb test: Apply this general idea to real life. What traumatizing or evil events have happened, seemingly at random, to you or people you know? What about historical events?

BUT WAIT, couldn't a story have more than one theme?! Oh yes.

Stephen King's short story explores the tragedy of aging: growing old often brings back the same helplessness we had in our youth.

And we can keep going. Being able to identify theme is ultimately what makes reading meaningful, and YOU, the reader, ARE JUST AS IMPORTANT as the text. Yep! That's right. Without your critical mind, stories are simply words, just text. Without you, literature loses its power. Pretty mind blowing, right? It's almost as if I blinded you with science. I'll let you be the judge of that.