How to Identify Lessons and Theme

Steps to follow when finding the theme:

1)  Identify the main lesson learned from the story by answering any of the following:
    A) What are we supposed to gain a new understanding of from examining a
                 person’s life or human nature?
    B) What message on life or human nature comes out of people’s interaction with
                 each other?
    C) What can we learn about life or human nature from people’s mistakes?
2)  Using the lesson you came up with, you will create a general
      message/theme:
A) Remove references to specific people, places, or situations.   
    B) Your message should be universal and apply to many things, not just the story.
3)  If multiple choice, match up your theme with the correct answer.
    A) Eliminate obvious incorrect answers.
    B) Check for “close answers” that might also be correct.