Skill and Form Number: Recurring Themes #1

Recurring Themes

You read a long novel about many generations of a family living in the southern United States. Over and over again, the family makes a fortune and loses their fortune, first during the Civil War, again at the turn of the 20th century, and yet again during the Great Depression. No matter what they do, they can't seem to hold onto their wealth, and each generation has to start over again to build it back up.

1. What is the recurring theme in such a novel?

Fortune is highly unpredictable.
Fortune smiles on good-hearted people.
Hard work will lead to a huge fortune.
Money is more valuable than family.

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Gavin and Grandad were fishing for mackerel from the harbor wall when the seal popped its head out of the water. For a moment Gavin thought it was a loose net-float bobbing about. Then he saw the two eyes, large, round, and glistening black, staring straight at him. The thing rose a bit more, and he saw the whiskery muzzle and knew what he was looking at.
Now Grandad looked up, grunted, and picked the half-size fish out of his creel. Gavin took it and tossed it to the seal.
The seal wasn't a trained seal in an aquarium, so it didn't reach up and catch the fish in midair but snapped it up just as it hit the water, and dived out of sight.
Tacky Steward, fishing twenty yards off along the wall, shouted at Grandad for encouraging seals to come to the harbor. They scared the fish off, he said.
"Plenty to go around," said Grandad mildly. Nothing fazed Grandad.
The mackerel's tail was sticking out of the corner of its mouth until the seal threw its head back and sort of gargled it down.
"You're welcome," said Gavin.
The seal blinked, as if it hadn't expected to be spoken to like that.
"I liked the seal," said Gavin. "It looked like it knew what I was saying to it."
"Could be," said Grandad.
"What do you mean?"
"There's more to seals than they show you on the telly. Know what a selkie is, boy?"
"A selkie?"
"They're seal-people, selkies. See them in the water, and they're seals all right. But come ashore, and you wouldn't know them from people. There's stories of selkie women falling in love with farmers, and marrying them, and living on land for a while and raising a family, until the pull of the sea got too strong for them and they went back and turned themselves into seals again."
"You don't really believe that."
"Tacky doesn't. No imagination."
You didn't always get a straight answer out of Grandad. But you did get an active imagination.
adapted from Inside Grandadby Peter Dickinson

2. What is the theme of this selection?

Selkies are seal-people that marry farmers.
Imagination can be dangerous when fishing.
Humans and seals should never mix company.
Imagination makes people more interesting.

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"What time is it?" my cousin asked me. About eight inches shorter than me, he had to look up when he talked.
I glanced at my watch. "Ten twenty."
"Does that watch tell good time?"
"Yeah, I think so."
My cousin grabbed my wrist to look at the watch. "Did it cost a lot?"
"No, it's pretty cheap," I said, glancing at the timetable.
My cousin looked confused.
"It's pretty cheap," I said, looking right at him, carefully repeating the words. "It's pretty cheap, but it keeps good time."
My cousin nodded silently.
My cousin can't hear well out of his right ear. Soon after he began elementary school, he was hit by a baseball, and it screwed up his hearing. That doesn't keep him from functioning normally most of the time. He attends a regular school, leads an entirely normal life. The thing is, though, he goes through periods when he can hear sounds pretty well and periods when he can't. And sometimes, maybe twice a year, he can barely hear anything out of either ear. It's like the silence in his right ear deepens to the point where it crushes out any sound on the left side. When that happens, ordinary life goes out the window, and he has to take some time off from school. The doctors have never seen a case like it, so they’re stumped.
It was ten thirty-two when the bus finally rolled into view.
"I wonder if it's going to hurt this time—the treatments?" my cousin asked me.
"I don't know," I said.
"Have you ever been to an ear doctor?"
I shook my head.
"Has it hurt before?" I asked.
"Not really," my cousin said glumly. "It wasn't totally painless, of course; sometimes it hurt a little. But nothing terrible."
"Maybe this time it'll be the same. Your mom said they're not going to do anything much different from usual."
"But if they do the same as always, how's that going to help?"
"Well, you never know. Sometimes the unexpected happens."
"You mean like pulling out a cork?" my cousin said. I glanced at him but didn't detect any sarcasm.
"It'll feel different having a new doctor treat you, and sometimes just a slight change in procedure might make all the difference. I wouldn't give up so easily."
"I'm not giving up," my cousin said.
"But you are kind of fed up with it?"
"I guess," he said and sighed. "The fear is the worst thing. The pain I imagine is worse than the actual pain. Know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I know."
adapted from Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami

3. Which theme can the reader see in this selection?

Pain is usually temporary, but courage lasts forever.
Fear of the unexpected is worse than what really happens.
Playing baseball can be hazardous to your hearing.
The usual is more interesting than the unusual.

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Lefty the Squirrel

In the apple orchard of a small town, there lived a squirrel named Lefty. Lefty was known throughout the squirrel community as a tremendous athlete. As a young squirrel, he performed acrobatic feats that amazed his peers. He would scramble across the thinnest branches and leap across the widest divides. There was no tree he couldn't climb, and no rooftop he couldn't scale.
But Lefty was boastful, and some of the older squirrels considered him foolish. There was his obsession with apples, for instance. While the other squirrels contented themselves by eating the pink blossoms of the apple trees, Lefty thought he could do better. Apples afforded a bigger meal, and so it was apples that Lefty wanted. As soon as the apples ripened from green to red, Lefty would dance across the branches and pounce on them. Inevitably, the apples would fall to the ground.
"What a waste!" the other squirrels would exclaim, watching Lefty trying to haul the apples back to his home. "Those apples are too heavy!"
Sure enough, they were right. Despite his athletic ability, Lefty never could lift an apple. But this didn't stop him from trying. "You'll see," he told his squirrel friends. "While you waste your time on little flowers, I'll be feasting on apples!"
Again and again, he would dance across the branches and pounce on the apples. And again and again, the apples would be abandoned on the ground, where they would rot.
Lefty kept this up until late autumn, when the weather changed and the leaves fell. Soon enough, the apple trees were bare. Whereas the other squirrels had satisfied their bellies with apple blossoms, Lefty's belly was empty.
"Won't you share some of your food with me?" Lefty asked his squirrel friends. But they turned a cold shoulder to Lefty. They had warned him not to spend his time chasing apples. Now, perhaps, he would learn his lesson.

4. What theme runs through this story?

Sometimes even friends can give bad advice.
Greed and boasting can get you into trouble.
Too much athletic ability is often a bad thing.
Peer pressure can cause you to do stupid things.

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The Japanese Garden

"Why must I take off my shoes?" Riku asked his father. He noticed that other people kept their shoes on when they entered the Japanese garden. The stone path looked as though it might hurt the bottoms of his feet.
"It is a Japanese tradition," Riku's father said in a gruff voice. "By taking off our shoes, we recognize that the garden is special. Also, it helps us relax once we are inside the garden."
Riku's father placed their shoes in a designated cubby near the garden's front gate. Then he took his son's hand. They walked to a large plot of gravel, in the middle of which were several jagged stones. The gravel had been raked around the stones in a circular pattern.
"The gravel is supposed to look like water," Riku's father explained. "The lines around the stones represent ripples."
Riku looked curiously up at his father. "Why are you whispering?" he asked his father.
"A Japanese garden is traditionally a quiet place," Riku's father said and waved dismissively at a man nearby who was talking on his cell phone. "He does not understand."
Riku wanted to move on to the next site, but his father forbade it. "We must remain here until our minds grow quiet," he said.
Riku stared at the smooth, raked gravel. After several minutes, he realized his father was right: It did look like water.
Finally, when the other visitors had moved on, Riku's father pointed to a stone path that curved around a maple tree. "It is tradition to go slowly, and to be aware," Riku's father said.
Riku nodded and tried his best to be patient as he followed in his father's footsteps. The rocks were all smooth underfoot except for one that was uneven.
When Riku's father reached the uneven rock, he paused. "Do you feel the difference?" he whispered to his son.
Riku nodded.
"Now, look up." Riku's father pointed at a spot in the trees. There, a small but colorful paper lantern hung from a branch. "This is our reward," he said.

5. What theme recurs throughout this story?

Fathers are often strict for no reason.
Using a cell phone in public is impolite.
It is important to observe tradition.
Sometimes rules are meant to be broken.

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King Midas and the Golden Touch (Greek myth)

King Midas wants more and more gold and is finally granted his wish: Everything he touches will turn to gold. The Midas touch! He is ecstatic, as even the flowers become gold under his powerful touch. Unfortunately, when King Midas touches his daughter, she turns into a gold statue, and it is at that moment he realizes that all the gold in the world does not compare to his daughter or her love.

6. Which sentence or phrase from the passage reflects the theme that it is important not to be blinded by greed?

"When King Midas touches his daughter, she turns into a gold statue."
"He is ecstatic, as even the flowers become gold under his powerful touch."
"King Midas wants more and more gold and is finally granted his wish."
"Everything he touches will turn to gold."

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7. What is the main theme of this passage?

Golden statues are expensive.
Be careful what you wish for.
Silver is more valuable than gold.
Gold is worth more than love.

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Mahesh's Luck

Mahesh was the number one singles player on his high school tennis team. On the court, he was unstoppable. He knew how to put wicked topspin on the tennis ball so that it would leap off the court, out of the reach of his opponents. His forehand and backhand were smooth and consistent. His serve was so fast it passed in a blur. All of the younger players looked up to him, and the older players were jealous.
As a junior, Mahesh was undefeated with a 10 – 0 record. And while his teammates assumed that this was due to discipline and hard work, Mahesh held a different opinion. He credited his lucky wristband.
To his fellow players, the wristband was nothing more than a strange fashion accessory. It was green and featured the number "17" stitched in yellow. They had no idea how important it was to Mahesh.
For six years, Mahesh had worn his lucky wristband to every single one of his tennis matches. And for six years, he had never lost a match. It was there, on his right wrist, appearing in a flash of green with every stroke. It was on his wrist when he stretched, when he practiced, and when he defeated his opponents, one after another. It was Mahesh's secret, a treasured possession that he never, ever forgot to wear... until the fateful day of his championship match.
On that day, Mahesh almost lost his mind. He emptied out his duffel bag on the court, searching for the lucky wristband. He retraced his steps to the locker room. He checked the hallway, the bathroom, and the showers. But the wristband was gone.
When the time came for him to play, Mahesh was a wreck. His right wrist felt naked, and he felt sure that he would lose. When it came time for him to serve, he double-faulted, hitting both his first and second serves out of bounds. When he was given an easy overhead volley, he hit it in the net. And when his opponent took the first set 6 – 4, Mahesh only hung his head.
However, it was during the second set that something changed. All those days of practice and hard work began to pay off. Mahesh regained his serving ability. His backhand and forehand became smooth and consistent once again. And, soon enough, he started to win. He took the second set 6 – 3, and the last set 6 – 0. He was now the undefeated champion!

8. What is a recurring theme in a story such as this?

Practice and hard work matter more than luck.
Naturally talented athletes can win without practicing.
Superstitious beliefs are important throughout life.
Even the best athletes sometimes lose matches.

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The alarm broke the dark silence with its painful squeal. Jessica extended a tired arm and slapped the snooze button like it was a pesky housefly. Time to get up? No, thought Jessica. She knew in her head that she could stay in bed for exactly 4.25 more minutes before starting her shower. The shower would take only 5 minutes, and her hair would only take 15 minutes to dry, mostly while she dressed.
4.25 minutes passed, and Jessica hopped out of her comfy bed. As she waited for her shower water to warm up, she went downstairs and placed a bagel in the oven. She had this routine down. She knew exactly how long it would take for everything to fall into place. In 20 minutes, she would be dressed and ready to go. She would grab her bagel and her backpack, kiss her mother goodbye, and casually walk to the bus stop. If she timed it right—and she always timed it right—she would arrive just as the bus was rounding the corner to her stop.
Jessica kissed her mother and told her she loved her. Right on schedule, just like always, Jessica opened the front door. Something was wrong.
The grass had grown almost overnight, covering the walkway to where the sidewalk used to be. Instead of a sidewalk, a dark, menacing river of mud flowed as if it were a moat around her house. The normally blue sky was a deep red, and all the birds were black as midnight.
Jessica didn't know whether to go back inside, or stay on schedule. Something was messing up her routine. Something creepy had happened in her neighborhood last night, and she couldn't figure out what it was. One thing was for certain. Jessica was going to find out.
adapted from "The Day the Clocks Stopped" by D. U. Derino

9. Which statement best summarizes the theme of this selection?

Things do not always work out as planned.
Mothers do not always warn their children.
You should not walk outside with wet hair.
The school bus does not always arrive on time.

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It was a hot day at the beginning of the Moon of No Dark, and the Forest was drowsy with sun. The trees echoed with birdsong; a warm southeasterly breeze carried the sweetness of lime blossom. After a while, Torak's heartbeats slowed. He heard a clutch of young greenfinches squealing for food in a hazel thicket. He watched a viper basking on a rock. He tried to fix his thoughts on that, but as so often happened, they drifted to Wolf.
Wolf would be nearly full-grown by now, but he'd been a cub when Torak had known him: falling over his paws and pestering Torak for lingonberries. . . .
Suddenly the auroch appeared from the trees on the other side of the stream.
One moment Torak was gazing at sun-dappled willows—the next, there she was. She stood taller than the tallest man, and her great curving horns could have skewered a bear. If she charged, Torak was in trouble.
By bad luck, he was upwind of her. He held his breath as he watched her twitch her blunt black muzzle to taste his scent. She snorted and pawed the earth with one massive hoof.
Then he saw the calf peering from the bracken, and his belly turned over. Aurochs are gentle creatures—except when they have calves.
Without a sound, Torak drew back into the shade. If he didn't startle her, maybe she wouldn't charge.
Again the auroch snorted and raked the ferns with her horns. At last she seemed to decide that he wasn't hunting her after all and slumped down in the mud to have a wallow.
Torak blew out a long breath.
The calf wobbled toward its mother, slipped, bleated, and fell over. The cow auroch raised her head and nosed it to its feet, then lay back to enjoy herself.
Crouching behind a juniper bush, Torak wondered what to do. Fin-Kedinn, the clan leader, had sent him to retrieve a bundle of willow bark that had been soaking in the stream; he didn't want to return to camp without it. Neither did he want to get trampled by an auroch.
He decided to wait for her to leave.
adapted from Spirit Walker: Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #2 by Michelle Paver