One of literature's greatest purposes is to explore the human condition. While compelling characters and gripping plots draw us in, it's the deeper themes — survival, redemption, identity — that linger long after we close the book, transforming stories from entertainment into art.
In this post, I'll explain what themes actually are (and what they're not), then examine 20 timeless themes through examples from contemporary fiction.
What is a literary theme?
A theme is the central insight, argument, or question a story offers about a broad human subject. Where a topic names the territory — love, power, grief, justice — a theme tells us what the story ultimately says about that territory:
- Does love redeem or destroy us?
- Do those who seek power inevitably become corrupt?
- Can confronting death teach us how to live more fully?
In short, a topic is what the story is about on the surface; the theme is the deeper message it delivers about that topic. The two are inseparably linked: every theme grows out of its topic, and every topic gains meaning through its thematic lens.
Why is a theme important?
Themes give a narrative universal resonance. They allow the particular circumstances of one character’s life to paint a broader picture that any reader can recognize. The strongest stories rarely hand us a tidy answer; instead, they keep the thematic question alive, nudging us to think, feel, and interpret for ourselves. That is why themes are almost always implied rather than spelled out — explored gradually through events, dialogue, imagery, and symbols.
How do authors develop a theme?
Writers do not state the theme in neon lights, but subtly weave it through various story elements. Take The Great Gatsby, which interrogates the illusion of the American Dream:
- 🪞 Character arcs: The protagonist's choices and growth illuminate the thematic idea (Nick's journey from dazzled outsider to disillusioned narrator mirrors our own awakening to the American Dream's corruption).
- 🤝 Conflict and stakes: What is risked or lost points to what the story values (Gatsby stakes everything — identity, integrity, life itself — on winning Daisy, revealing the Dream's devastating cost).
- ❇️ Motifs and symbols: Repeated images or objects act as thematic echo chambers (The green light embodies all unattainable dreams; the Valley of Ashes shows capitalism's human wreckage).
- 👀 Structural choices: Shifts in point of view, chronology, or tone can sharpen the theme (Nick's retrospective narration peels back Gatsby's glittering façade layer by layer, exposing the rot beneath).
Do novels have multiple themes?
Most novels explore several themes that overlap and converse with one another. One theme generally dominates, but secondary themes add nuance and texture. For example, in The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, mortality is the primary theme — Hazel and Augustus grapple with what makes a finite life meaningful — and it's explored through the lens of love: their romance becomes a way to seize the present and make the most of the moments they do get to share.
With this foundation, let’s dive into some of the most common themes in storytelling.
The most common examples of theme in literature
The literary landscape is always changing. Afterall, new books should reflect the world we live in and the issues we face today. But at their core, the most powerful stories still explore some of the same fundamental themes 一 they just do it through fresh lenses and modern voices.
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For example, despite being published more than a century apart, both Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman (2016) and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (1879) feature quietly defiant women who feel suffocated by the roles society expects them to play (a mother with a stable career, and a decorative, obedient wife, respectively). The settings and circumstances may be different, but at their core they ruminate on similar ideas.
The reason is that some themes are timeless, and we never seem to tire of them, no matter how many times they’re reimagined. So let’s look at the most common ones.
1. Love
All we need is love. Humans love love, and especially reading about it, in all its infinite variations and complications. Unrequited passion, forbidden desire, fated connections 一 the heart's yearnings transcend time and culture. What makes us risk everything for another person? How does love transform us, for better or worse? Can we ever truly know another's heart, or even our own?
❤️ Example: In Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, the theme of love is explored through the unlikely yet life-altering connection between spirited caregiver Louisa Clark and once-adventurous quadriplegic Will Traynor, whose clashing desires for autonomy and acts of sacrifice lay bare how true affection can at once liberate and devastate the human heart.
2. Death and mortality
From ancient epics to sacred texts, humanity has always sought meaning in the face of our inevitable end. Can confronting mortality teach us how to truly live? How do we endure the death of a dear one? Can we face death with dignity?
📚 Example: In The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, the theme of death is explored through Nora Seed’s journey between life and oblivion, where each alternate existence — sampled amid infinite shelves of possibility — exposes how confronting mortality can kindle regret, reshape purpose, and ultimately illuminate the fragile, wondrous value of simply being alive.
3. Coming of age
The journey from innocence to experience is a popular theme found in many novels, especially for young adults. Every generation must discover the world anew, losing illusions and gaining wisdom through trials both ordinary and extraordinary. What truths must we learn to truly grow up? How do we reconcile childhood dreams with adult realities? When do we realize our parents are merely human?
🌱 Example: In The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, this theme is explored through Charlie's freshman year letters to an unnamed friend, where he shares his journey through first love, new friendships, and resurfacing trauma — punctuated by mixtapes, Rocky Horror performances, and the infinite feeling of driving through a tunnel.
4. Power and corruption
Since humans first organized themselves into societies, literature has explored how power shapes and warps those who seek it, wield it, or suffer under it. Who deserves power, and can anyone be trusted with it? How does the pursuit of power transform even the noblest intentions? Why do the powerless so often become the very tyrants they once opposed?
⚡️Example: In The Power by Naomi Alderman, the theme of power is explored through a global upheaval where women develop the ability to release electrical shocks from their hands — a biological revolution that inverts gender hierarchies and exposes how quickly the oppressed can become oppressors.
5. Good vs. evil
Ah, the eternal struggle between light and darkness. This theme is about our deepest conundrums about morality and choice. What separates a hero from a villain when both believe their cause is just? Does the end justify the means? Is anyone purely one or the other, or do we all contain both?
⚡ Example: In The Stand by Stephen King, the theme of good vs. evil is explored when the survivors of a pandemic split between Mother Abagail's godly commune in Boulder and Randall Flagg's dark kingdom in Las Vegas, where the real battle isn't just between supernatural forces but within each character choosing moment by moment whether to act from love or fear.
6. Freedom and oppression
This theme is about the human yearning to break free, whether that’s from tyrants, social constraints, or mental prisons. The tension between liberty and control drives revolutions both personal and political. What price are we willing to pay for freedom? How do the oppressed become complicit in their own subjugation? What does it mean to be truly free?
🤱 Example: In The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, the theme of freedom and oppression is explored through Offred's existence in the theocratic Republic of Gilead, where women's bodies become state property and remembering a time when women could drive cars, read books, and have names becomes an act of rebellion.
7. Justice
The concept of justice may seem black and white at first glance, but sometimes, it just isn't. These stories expose systems that protect the guilty while punishing the innocent, courtrooms where truth matters less than power, and how one man’s justice may be another one’s downfall. Who decides what justice looks like? Can true justice ever be achieved? What happens when the law itself becomes the very thing that stops justice from being served?
⚖️ Example: In The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, the theme of justice and injustice is explored when Starr Carter witnesses her unarmed friend being shot and killed by the police and struggles to speak truth in a world that would rather silence her.
8. Betrayal
Trust is the foundation of every human bond, making its violation one of literature's most devastating plot turns. Betrayal and, in its opposite form, loyalty are themes that explore what we owe each other and ourselves. What drives someone to betray those they claim to love? Is loyalty always virtuous, or can it become its own trap? How do we rebuild after trust is shattered?
📓 Example: In Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, the theme of betrayal and loyalty is explored through Nick and Amy Dunne's toxic marriage, where each spouse's deceptions — his affair and emotional negligence; her elaborate frame job for a murder — spiral into a psychological war that questions whether betrayal creates monsters or merely reveals them.
9. Fate vs. free will
This theme explores the tension between destiny and choice, and our anxieties about meaning and agency. Are we shaped by forces beyond our control, or do we create our own paths? Can we escape what seems written in the stars? Where does fate end and free will — and therefore responsibility — begin?
⌛ Example: In The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, the theme of fate vs. free will is explored through Henry's uncontrollable time traveling and Clare's waiting, where their love story poses the paradox that perhaps fate and free will aren't opposites but partners in the dance of living.
10. Survival
From humanity's earliest struggles against nature to modern tales of endurance in space, survival stories tap into our most primal instincts and fears. These narratives strip away civilization's comforts to reveal what we're made of when our life is at stake. What are we willing to do to stay alive? How much of our humanity can we lose and still remain human? When does surviving become more terrible than dying?
🥔 Example: In The Martian by Andy Weir, the theme of survival is explored through Mark Watney's determination to "science the shit" out of being stranded on Mars, where each problem (like growing potatoes in Martian soil) becomes a puzzle that only wit and will can solve.
11. Inequality
This theme focuses on the divide between rich and poor, powerful and powerless, the privileged and the dispossessed. These stories expose the systems that perpetuate disparity and the human cost of indifference. How do invisible barriers become inescapable prisons? Why do we accept inequalities we would never choose for ourselves? Can individual kindness ever overcome systemic cruelty?
💰 Example: In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the theme of inequality is explored through the Joad family's migration from dust-choked Oklahoma to California's false promises, where banks devour farms, desperate workers compete for starvation wages, and oranges rot while children starve.
12. Prejudice
The theme of prejudice delves into our instinct to divide people into “us” and “them,” revealing how this bias can manifest in overt acts of hatred or in subtle, everyday assumptions that quietly isolate and harm others. How do we learn to fear or dismiss what we don't understand? Can prejudice be unlearned? What is lost when we see others as less than human?
👁️ Example: In The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez, the theme of prejudice is explored through Latino immigrants in Delaware whose stories expose how prejudice operates through a thousand small erasures and assumptions that render complex humans invisible except as problems to be solved or threats to be feared.
13. War
Whether we like it or not, war is a big part of human history and therefore one of the most common themes in literature. From Homer's Iliad to today's accounts of modern conflict, war stories explore the best and worst of humanity at its most extreme. What does war reveal about human nature? How do ordinary people become capable of extraordinary violence — or, on the other hand, bravery? Can anyone truly return from war unchanged?
💣 Example: In All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, the theme of war is explored through young German soldier Paul Bäumer's journey from patriotic schoolboy to hollowed veteran, where the grinding reality of trench warfare — the cruel randomness of death, the intimacy of killing, the way war makes enemies of boys who might have been friends — strips away every illusion about honor and glory, leaving only the terrible truth that war is old men talking and young men dying.
14. Redemption
The possibility of redemption — of making amends for our wrongdoings and finding forgiveness 一 offers literature's most powerful form of hope. These stories ask whether people can truly change, whether the past can be overcome, and whether grace is earned or given. What does it take to redeem ourselves? Can we forgive others if we can't forgive ourselves? Is anyone beyond redemption?
🪁 Example: In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the theme of redemption is explored through Amir's childhood cowardice in abandoning his best friend, Hassan — the son of their family’s servant — during a brutal assault, a moment of weakness that haunts him across continents and decades until he returns to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan to rescue Hassan's orphaned son.
15. Change vs. tradition
This theme looks at the generational collision between what has always been and what might be, between honoring the past and embracing the future. When does tradition become a prison rather than a foundation? How much change can a culture absorb before it loses itself? Can we move forward without abandoning where we came from?
🌊 Example: In Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, the theme of change vs. tradition is explored through four generations of a Korean family in Japan, where each generation must navigate between preserving their cultural identity and adapting to survive.
16. Revenge and forgiveness
From ancient blood feuds to modern grudges, literature has explored the twin impulses to repay harm and release it. These opposing forces reveal fundamental questions about justice, healing, and human nature. Does revenge truly satisfy, or does it create endless cycles of retaliation? Is forgiveness weakness or the ultimate strength? Can we forgive without forgetting, or forget without forgiving?
🐉 Example: In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, the theme of revenge and forgiveness is explored through Lisbeth Salander's methodical retribution against her abusive guardian, showing how some violations create wounds too deep for forgiveness, leaving only the cold satisfaction of ensuring it never happens again.
17. Identity
The quest to answer "Who am I?" and “Where do I belong?” drives countless narratives. How do we distinguish between who we truly are and who others expect us to be? Can we ever fully know ourselves? What happens when discovering our identity means losing everything else?
🦋 Example: In Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, the theme of identity and self-discovery is explored through Cal/Calliope's journey as an intersex person raised as a girl who discovers at fourteen the truth about their body.
18. Heroism
Heroes are everywhere in literature — from demigods and dragon slayers to ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances. Modern literature questions what truly constitutes heroism. Is it about grand gestures or quiet persistence? Can reluctant heroes be more heroic than eager ones? What's the difference between heroism and martyrdom?
🦸 Example: In The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, the theme of heroism is explored through two sisters in Nazi-occupied France — Vianne, who hides Jewish children in her home while her husband is a prisoner of war, and Isabelle, who guides downed Allied pilots across the Pyrenees — demonstrating that heroism comes in many forms.
19. Self-destruction
Literature has long explored humanity's paradoxical capacity to be our own worst enemy. These stories delve into the ways we sabotage our happiness. What drives us to destroy what we've built? Is self-destruction a form of control when life feels uncontrollable? Can we save someone determined to fall?
🔥 Example: In A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, the theme of self-destruction is explored through Jude's inability to escape the trauma of his childhood abuse, where despite having friends who love him, professional success, and adoptive parents who adore him, he remains trapped in self-destructive mental patterns and behaviors.
20. Loneliness
The theme of loneliness explores isolation not just as physical solitude but as the inability to be truly known. Can we be lonely surrounded by people? Is solitude the same as loneliness? What happens when we forget how to let others in?
💔 Example: In Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, the theme of loneliness is explored through Kya's abandonment in the North Carolina marshes, where she grows from a forsaken child to the mysterious "Marsh Girl"— teaching herself to read from found feathers, finding companionship in gulls and grasses, creating a life of profound solitude that's both refuge and prison.
And that’s a wrap! There’s a lot to take in, but these twenty themes represent a big slice of the literary — and human — experience. Hopefully, the next time you dive into a novel, you’ll see past the plot twists and character arcs to spot the deeper questions beating beneath the surface. Happy reading!
"This sense of direction and purpose is an important aspect of theme in story." Very well put. The purpose of a story and what compels us to tell it a certain way IS theme. Ideally, we structure the story in order to highlight the theme, give us a playground in which to play with "power," "honor," or "loss." Very smart of you to put it this way. Thank you for this. I was thinking recently theme is often a discussion of emotion, but you really widened it to a more philosophical scope than I. Maybe understanding the key emotions in a story is a first step toward getting a grasp on its theme? For me it is. LOTR for example. I'd say a key emotion is fear - it's one long ghost story after all. You're right, it's philosophically about power, but Tolkein believes power is negative and frightening and embodies it in the shape of forms of wraiths, dragons, corrosively magic rings, and fire-demons of the ancient world . Fear (horror) is definitely a structuring emotion of the entire narrative and an underpinning of the Power theme.
Barth Anderson - Over 8 years ago
You raise a good point, Barth (thanks for your engaging comments). You could say that different themes have a typical emotional repertoire that goes with them (for example, where there are themes such as the danger of total state power, as in Orwell's 1984, then fear will naturally be a common character emotion throughout the book). Fear (and the dangers thereof) is definitely a running motif in LOTR.
Bridget At Now Novel - Over 8 years ago
Yeah, that's a better way to put it. "Emotional repertoire" is more accurate than calling it theme. I guess it's a question of how meta the writer's attention to emotional repertoire becomes. 1984 is definitely a treatise on fear and paranoia; LOTR less so.
Barth Anderson - Over 8 years ago
For me theme is an empty page. I have been struggling with this. "The guy with the white hat doesn't always win." "Sometimes there isn't room for justice", "Knowing the truth doesn't mean you can prove it." I wrote a crime novel based on an actual unsolved crime. The ending is satisfactory in that the police know who did it, but cannot bring them to justice as Organized Crime leaders are in a position to quash evidence and judges are related to the criminals. Ok, I just revealed the ending. I write stories. Do I really need to worry about a Theme? Won't the premise work? What if you can prove the crime but can't bring the criminal to justice? Won't that work?
T Weaver - Almost 7 years ago
Hi TWeaver, Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. You're right in the sense that worrying about theme (or any other element of a story) is counter-productive. All the same it can be useful to think of themes you've already introduced (particularly in revision drafts) and possible ways you could approach the same theme from another angle. This is useful, for example, if you'd like to find subplots that supplement or contrast with your main characters' arcs (for example, your main character arc might pose one thematic idea, while a subplot poses a contradictory or simply contrasting viewpoint). I would say focusing on the crime in your story and how the case pans out is an equally valid way of telling a story - there's no single approach that is the definitive one!
Bridget At Now Novel - Almost 7 years ago
So many in my life have tried to discuss the theme of a story and did so in abstract terms: the essence of character, integrity, the obtuse in the planning of life, and god (a philosophical abstract, not the Supreme Being), have all been passed off as story themes. But the concept discussed here, "The sense of direction and purpose is an important aspect of theme in story," implies physical or psychological, or philosophical movement. Therefore, I don't see how a story them can be discussed or defined without putting the theme into sentence form with a subject and verb and, perhaps, an object. The essence of character . . . what? Integrity . . . did what? The obtuse in the planning of life . . . did what? God . . . what? The last first. (A Biblical concept but not the concept here.) Again, god . . . what? God . . . left. One could leave it open-ended and, a la Sartre, leave it there. God left. But isn't that incomplete? God left . . . me? Or, again al la Sarte, "God left me stranded." There it is: a complete sentence that leaves us with a theme based on movement. I submit that the incomplete thought is not a theme: "The theme of my story is god." Here, god makes no movement, has no quality, no gravitas, no force. The purpose of a story may well be to show that god has no quality, no gravitas, or force, but I think that still must be presented in a thematic statement: "In my life, god has never shown himself, itself, or herself." Even the simplistic "god does not exist" is a superior thematic statement to simply . . . god. I've made my point: I won't ramble on. But I must credit my professor, Dr. Bryan, for the thoughts here--they are not original with me. They carry me--they gave me movement. I will not
Jim Porter - Almost 7 years ago
Hi Jim, thanks for your deep engagement with the ideas here. You're right that the thematic elements of a story get more interesting the more developed the underlying 'premise sentence' is (for example 'power corrupts when...' or 'power corrupts if...' is more specific - and thus more interesting - than simply 'power corrupts'). As you point out, it gives 'movement' or (in other words) an indication of cause and effect. Thanks for reading.
Bridget At Now Novel - Almost 7 years ago
hi, I'm reading the Anne Frank scenes for ELA and am having a really hard time answering this question: A theme is a message (or moral) about life. Themes are revealed through the characters and the “big ideas” that affect them, such as the topics listed below. Choose one of the theme topics below. In a paragraph, explain how specific characters in Act I have experienced this theme topic in the action of the play: I was wondering if someone could help me?
Wolf - Over 2 years ago
Hi Wolf, Thank you for sharing your challenge. What is the title and author of the play about Anne Frank? That context would be helpful for me to offer advice. Knowing the story of Anne Frank I'd imagine themes include growing up, human nature, the cruelty of war, identity (the persecution of Jewish people in the Holocaust being based on their religious/cultural identity), etc. What happens in Act 1? Good luck with your ELA assignment/exam.
Jordan - Over 2 years ago