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1475 Redefining AmericaWriting Workshop Analysis of Theme in Fiction In Chapter 3 , you learned how to read fiction analytically on multiple levels: first with attention to big-picture literary elements that convey a theme, and then with attention to close-up style elements that convey tone and mood. In both cases, we analyzed how individual elements can work together to create meaning. Here, we will home in on big-picture literary analysis and look at the steps you can take to write an analysis of theme in a full work of fiction. Later, in Chapter 7 , we will switch focus to close-up style elements and consider how to write a close analysis of a fiction passage. To practice the analysis of theme, we can examine %u201cThe Hollow Children,%u201d a short story by the Pulitzer Prize%u2013winning novelist, short story writer, poet, and children%u2019s book author Louise Erdrich. A member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Erdrich sets some of her fiction in locations with significance to American Indians. Indeed, this short story takes place somewhere in North Dakota, a state that was once primarily occupied by her tribe. While the blizzard featured in the story represents weather common in the Midwest, Erdrich incorporates details about a particular April 1923 storm in the fertile Red River Valley. We can begin by reading %u201cThe Hollow Children%u201d once through without having to annotate anything. Instead of thinking about literary elements or specific details, focus instead on the story of humans facing a challenging, scary situation. Every subject, every issue, every question that the texts in this chapter examine echoes back through American history and culture: American ideals, identity, and opportunity; racial equality; the immigrant experience; the role America%u2019s military plays in foreign affairs; the rights of women; our freedom of speech and religion; and our relationship to the environment. These texts also give us ways to look to the future: Where should we go from here? How should we get there? What Frederick Douglass called a %u201cstanding offense%u201d to nations for whom the fight is prohibited should %u2014 and must %u2014 give us hope that we can forge a new but still relevant American Dream. Copyright %u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Not for redistribution.