Teaching Theme Doesn't Have to Be ComplicatedOne of the most common challenges new literature teachers face is teaching theme. Part of the difficulty stems from the fact that students—and sometimes teachers—often confuse topic and theme as though they are the same thing.They are not.A topic is a subject the text explores, such as love, friendship, courage, power, or identity. A theme is what the author communicates about that topic. For example, while friendship is a topic, "True friendship requ