ELA.5.R.1.2 5.8.A

Theme

Theme: A theme of a literary work is a message, lesson, moral, or meaning that can be drawn from it. It is not a summary of characters and events. The theme rises above the written story or poem. It is what the reader can learn from what happens to the characters in the story or from how an author reflects upon a topic in an essay or poem.

A written work can have more than one theme.

Matilda and the Whale

Matilda sat across from her grandfather on the small boat on the bay. There were two boats on their tour. Matilda was in one with a tour guide and her grandfather. George and Amelia, her cousins, were in the other boat. Matilda could hear them chatting and laughing with each other. Neither had wanted Matilda with them on their boat—there was only room for two passengers, and they immediately chose each other. As always, Matilda felt just a little hurt. She was the one who was usually left out.

Matilda was not one for idle chatter, though. Neither was her grandfather. They listened to George and Amelia’s endless jabber and shared a smile. It seemed that George and Amelia were more interested in interacting with each other than with the whales they had come to see. Her grandfather winked at her, and she smiled into his wrinkled, wise eyes. She was happy to be in this boat with him.

Matilda and her grandfather patted their hands on the surface of the water softly, just as the tour guide had told them to. They waited in silence, as their boat drifted gently away from the one carrying George and Amelia. Matilda reveled in the feel of the warm, salty breeze on her face. She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed it in.

Matilda opened her eyes with a gasp as she felt something beneath her hand on the surface of the water. A giant gray whale had come to her! Matilda could barely breathe. She looked over at her grandfather. He was happily petting another whale—a baby whose mother had nudged it over to him! Matilda was in awe. She stroked her whale’s smooth, slippery skin. The whale turned its head to look at her with one wrinkled, baseball-sized eye. It seemed that the whale was looking into her soul and liked what it saw. Matilda gazed back and smiled. She forgot all about her chattering cousins in the other boat.

Matilda and her grandfather interact with whales on a boat in the bay.

When you wait quietly and patiently, wonderful things may come to you.

There are some places where it is possible to pet gray whales in the wild.

Evidence:

Matilda and her grandfather sit and wait quietly on their boat.

Gray whales come to visit them and be stroked by them.

Another theme?

Evidence:

Matilda and her grandfather share a smile in the second paragraph. It states, ". . . she looked into his wrinkled, wise eyes. She was happy to be in this boat with him."

In the fourth paragraph, Matilda makes a similar connection with the whale. It says, "The whale turned its head to look at her with one wrinkled, baseball-sized eye. It seemed that the whale was looking into her soul and liked what it saw. Matilda gazed back and smiled."

Do you see any other themes?

If you want to explore more themes in "Matilda and the Whale," pause here to do so on your own. You may also go into "Responses to Texts" and find this passage to write about its themes.

When looking for themes in a literary work, think about —

What ideas are bigger than the written work itself?

What can the reader learn from what is written?

Do the characters face challenges and learn from mistakes?

How does the writer or speaker reflect on a topic?

What message or messages can the reader infer?

What evidence from the passage supports the theme or themes?

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Go to the next page to practice working with themes.

Theme

Florida - Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking: ELA.5.R.1.2

Explain the development of stated or implied theme(s) throughout a literary text.

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