IXL | Match the quotations with their themes

Read the quotations below from Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty. Match each one with the theme or lesson it suggests.

Good things stand out only next to bad things.

Not being able to talk about something can be a burden.

Quotation

Theme

And I could only stand by . . . The keeper of a secret so terrible it made me afraid to speak, scared that it would pour out of me like kerosene, burning everyone.

"Because you don't notice the light without a bit of shadow. Everything has both dark and light."

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Learn with an example

question

Read the quotations below from Frances H. Burnett's The Secret Garden. Match each one with the theme or lesson it suggests.

Other people can help us see our faults.

A secret can make something feel more valuable.

Quotation

Theme

He did not know in the least what a rude little brute he was . . . He had lived on a sort of desert island all his life and . . . made his own manners.

Colin had become more and more fixed in his feeling that the mystery surrounding the garden was one of its greatest charms. Nothing must spoil that.

key idea

A theme is a key message or lesson communicated in a story, poem, or play. A single work of literature might have a number of themes, and different parts of the story will highlight different themes.

Usually, works of literature don't openly state their themes. But you can often identify themes by looking at important moments in the text, including dialogue, action, and observations made by the narrator.

For example, look at this quotation from an important moment in Tuck Everlasting:

She was afraid to go away alone. It was one thing to talk about being by yourself, doing important things, but quite another when the opportunity arose.
—Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting. © 1975

To find the theme, analyze the quotation. What does it suggest about the character's values? What life lessons could be taken from the quotation? Use questions like these to make an inference, or an educated guess:

The character thought leaving home would be easy when she didn't actually have to do it.

Finally, apply the inference to the wider world to find a theme:

It's easier to imagine doing brave things than it is to actually do them.

solution

Read each quotation and make an inference. Then, apply your inference to the wider world to find the theme.

Quotation 1: He did not know in the least what a rude little brute he was . . . He had lived on a sort of desert island all his life and . . . made his own manners.
Inference 1: The character has become rude because he has not had to deal with other people.
Theme 1: Other people can help us see our faults.

Quotation 2: Colin had become more and more fixed in his feeling that the mystery surrounding the garden was one of its greatest charms. Nothing must spoil that.
Inference 2: Colin believes that the magic of a place is in keeping it a secret.
Theme 2: A secret can make something feel more valuable.

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