Ciao, SEers.  Last time, we talked about the first of the literary elements—theme. If you missed that post or would like to review it, you can find it here.

Today, we’re going to discuss the second element, subject, and how it relates to theme.

In literary terms, subject is the vehicle through which the theme of a story is delivered.

While theme is the most general literary element, that means there are fewer themes than subjects in fiction. The following example will show how one subject—home—can be used for different themes. And in different ways.

Let’s use The Wizard of Oz as an example again. Many people might be inclined to think the theme is there’s no place like home. It is, after all, one of the most often quoted lines of the movie. But the core message (theme) of the story can be generalized further. As we…