Using NewView to Find Theme in Novels-Part 2
[[[THIS CONTINUES THE DISCUSSION I BEGAN YESTERDAY. THIS PART OF THE DISCUSSION IS TAKEN FROM MY NEW BOOK, THE SECRET DNA OF ANALYZING NOVELS, WHICH SHOULD BE PUBLISHED NEXT WEEK AND WILL BE AVAILABLE HERE AND AT AMAZON.COM.]]]
The theme of a story is what the author is trying to communicate to readers, the main idea.
In a well-written novel, the theme is worked in all throughout the story, in the foils, conflicts and resolutions, and other literary devices, and especially in the NewView.
And since the NewView is, in fact, the Power Key for determining the theme of a story, it’s helpful to create and use your own customized Mind Map with the NewView Reverse at the center. As you’ll see, everything in the story that supports or relates to the NewView will also be under the umbrella of the theme of the story.
Follow these three rules to fill out your customized Mind Map:
Rule #1. Check for repeated key words and key phrases.
For individual key words, make sure always to go from the NewView to the title of the novel.
When we were pinpointing the NewView Reverse, we noted that Sheriff Tate and Scout drew our attention to the phrase, “it’s a sin,” referring to what Atticus had said early in the story, “It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” And Scout does say, just after Tate leaves, referring to what Tate said about not letting anyone know that Boo Radley had killed Bob Ewell (because the social attention Boo would get from that would wreck his life),
“Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?”
And “mockingbird” is in the title of the novel, so “mockingbird-Tate-Scout-Atticus” should be penciled into one of the bubbles around the central one. Other events in the story used the word “mockingbird,” too, so pencil those in briefly in other bubbles connected to the one you just filled in.
Another key word in the NewView that is also in the novel’s title is “kill.” Did anybody in the story get killed? You’re right: Tom Robinson, Bob Ewell, and the mad dog, Tim Johnson.
They each should get their own bubble on the same line out from the center. Other bubbles in that line could contain incidents where the kids were telling each other they were going to be killed by Boo Radley, such as at the beginning when Jem was working up his courage to run up to the Radley house and touch it.
An interesting variation of “mockingbird” and “kill” occurs on page 323, where Scout is describing Mr. Underwood’s comment in his newspaper the day after Tom Robinson’s death:
He likened Tom’s death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children . . . .
Obviously, “songbird” is a variation of “mockingbird,” which was described elsewhere in the story as a songbird. And “slaughter” is certainly an acceptable variation of “kill,” particularly since Scout uses the phrase “senseless killing” in the very next paragraph as she thinks about Mr. Underwood’s commentary. So that should be penciled in on that line of bubbles, as well.
For key phrases, once again start with the NewView Reverse. Quite near the NewView Reverse in this story (just after it, three pages from the end, p. 374), Scout stands on the porch of the Radley home and says,
Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.
Scout says, “One time he said—” but she misspoke. Actually, variations of ‘stand in his shoes and walk around in them’ were mentioned a total of five times, beginning on page 39, where Atticus is talking to Scout and says,
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—“Sir?” [said Scout] “—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
The other three are:
As Atticus had once advised me to do, I tried to climb into Jem’s skin and walk around in it. . . . (p. 77)
“. . . you children last night made Walter Cunningham stand in my shoes for a minute.” (p. 210)
“Jem, see if you can stand in Bob Ewell’s shoes a minute.” (p. 292)
Whether it’s skin or shoes, the repeated meaning is clear: To understand someone, do your honest best to try to imagine yourself living their life long enough so you can understand them. That will give you a much better understanding of them than anything else.
Rule #2. Look for patterns in the conflicts.
When we looked for support for the OldView in the middle of the story at foils, conflicts, and resolutions in Step #2 [in my book, this refers to the second step in the NewView Analysis process], we found the pattern of ignorance-assumptions-negative reactions, remember? And we found that pattern ALSO in the NewView Reverse at the end of the story.
Since that pattern is actually part of the NewView as well as in all the conflicts and resolutions in the middle of the story, you should make an acronym out of that — IANR — and put that in the top of each bubble in one line out from the center; then fill in a brief phrase to identify each conflict, such as,
- Atticus-leave Radleys alone
- Scout, mob, jailhouse
- Scout ashamed-Att. shot dog
- Alexandra-Cunghams trash
Rule #3. Find incidents where major characters talk about abstract values.
The abstract values you find will be things you can’t touch, such as,
- freedom
- love
- friendship
- fear
- good
- evil
- sin
- God
- respect
- responsibility
- justice
- equality
Again, start with the NewView Reverse and identify one of those abstract values involved in it. Then look for strong expressions by characters placed near the NewView Reverse that clearly emphasize one or more of the abstractions listed above.
[[[THIS EXCERPT FROM MY BOOK WAS LONGER THAN I REMEMBERED IT--AND I'VE MODIFIED IT A BIT WITH ADDITIONS, HERE--SO I'LL CONTINUE THIS DISCUSSION WITH PART 3, TOMORROW OR SATURDAY. STAY TUNED.]]]
