Is Theme the Heart of a Story?

Photo by Matt Walsh on Unsplash

Having more questions than answers is a fun way to live life because you always have something to think about. Like why are we here? What is my purpose? Why do people connect with writing? And one I’ve been thinking about for a while. Is Theme the heart of story?

It is what gives the story life and helps make that connection between the word and the reader, isn’t it? I feel like someone decided that it was, but I’m not so sure. Just because everyone believes something doesn’t mean that it’s fully true. The consensus does add to its validity but that doesn’t mean we can’t question it to see if your understanding lines up with theirs. But back to the topic at hand.

Photo by Hush Naidoo Jade Photography on Unsplash

Conflict is the Heart of Story

It can be argued that theme is the heart of a story but through my researching it’s starting to look like conflict is the heart of story and theme is only a facet. But let’s define something first. I’m starting to see a lot of arguments between people who believe the same thing but just have different definitions that are creating the disconnect.

A common definition of theme is why the writer is writing and what they want the reader to…