Redemption and Themes in Fiction
As a former library media specialist at large public high school, I aided students in the eleventh grade English classes as they were required to write their research papers on a novel. They had to find the literary theme in the novel that they wanted to write about. A theme isn’t the topic but the overarching meaning of the story. This was often hard for them to grasp at first, but eventually they thought it out and came up with an idea.
As readers, we want to find a story that moves us. We often search for answers to life in the literature we read. We want to learn something about the world around us.
I’ve heard it said that our favorite stories tell us something about ourselves. The same goes for authors writing stories. One of the first authors I met with I joined a writers’ group wrote romantic suspense with Texas Rangers catching the bad guys. At some point, she explained that in her childhood, someone close to her had been murdered. Her theme was justice.
Thinking about my favorite stories, I love the good-overcoming-evil theme. In analyzing my own writing, however, I thought my theme might be something a little different from that: redemption. So, without explaining, I asked a friend what she thought my theme was. Surprisingly, she came up with the same term, along with grace.
What is redemption though? From the dictionary:
The action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil.
The action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing a debt.
Synonyms:
Grace, salvation, rebirth, regeneration, restoration, absolution, forgiveness, remission, atonement, cleansing, purification, sanctification
I think, like my author friend who’d dealt with murder in her childhood, my theme comes from my own life. As a young adult, I made a lot of mistakes. At times, I felt so sinful, I doubted God would want to ever take me back. Why should He?
But He did. Because He is loving and patient.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
He has allowed me to use all the yuck of my past to reach out to others, to share His amazing grace. To write about His redemption.
If you had a theme, what would it be?
Hi Janet! Thanks for your thought provoking blog. Maybe the theme of perseverance. Perseverance is not giving up. It is persistence and tenacity, the effort required to do something and keep doing it till the end, even if it’s hard. Steadfastness. Maybe I am in the reflective mode since tomorrow is our 47th Wedding Anniversary and am aware of several young men – Generation Y (1980 – 1994) going through heartbreaking divorces. The wives after almost 10 years of marriage just up and left them with the children. Best wishes. Enjoy the “Sunshine.”
I would say deliverance….Christ delivered me unto salvation as a teen, He delivered me out of an abusive 18 year marriage, He delivered me to a new life 900 miles away with my sister, and 20 years later delivered me back to my home state where I currently am. Thank you for sharing.
Steadfastness is perfect! Happy anniversary!
I have noticed a lot of young people with similar situations and it’s so sad.
I hope you have a wonderful day!
Blessings,
Janet
I love that! Deliverance is Christ is such a blessing! Thank you for your testimony.
Have a good day!
I would say grace. God has given me such grace and I’m committed to doing the same to those I interact with. I don’t always do so, but I try.
I would say faithful and honor. He’s proven Himself faithful to me, and I’m striving to be faithful in my walk with him, and in the care I give to my Mom. I’m trying to honor my Mom as commanded by God, just as I tried to honor both her and Daddy before Daddy passed away. Being caregiver to Mom is just a small part of honoring her for all she and Daddy did for me while I was growing up.
God’s grace is so good! We can’t offer it without His strength for sure!
Blessings :)
That’s so precious, Trudy! I miss me parents so much.
I hope you have a good week :)
Blessings,
Janet
Should say my parents, no me parents. Need more coffee.
I would say hope. I’m a hopeless romantic and can smell an attraction a mile away, so I almost said love. Especially as my series is based on 1 Corinthians 13. But I think the subconscious theme of all my writing is hope, that there is no one too far gone, no one who’s lost every chance. God is always faithful.
I crave justice in this world and often pray for it. Yet I couldn’t live tomorrow without hope, so Hope is huge to me. When everything seems to be falling apart and chaos and corruption surround us, it’s hope in a God who knows all, is capable of anything He wishes, loves me as an individual, and desires my best that keeps me going. I simply cannot imagine life without hope.
So I read books with HEAs and not too much angst. Humor is also preferred to lighten my perspective.
I believe the underlying theme in all my writing is “belonging.” It’s also the theme of my life. I’ve often felt like the one on the outside, watching others interact. This probably started very early in my life, being the youngest child by a considerable margin, watching my group of older sisters do things together that I was too young for!
Hope is such a wonderful trait! We all need that. I love it!
Justice and hope are both so important. I have to have some humor too!!
I love that! Belonging. We all want to. I can relate. My sisters were both teens when I was born.
Great post, Janet! Hope and justice are my themes. Hope because I felt hopeless for so long. Justice because I believe victims should always get justice.
My favorite themes in a book are second chance, forgiveness & redemption…either all three present or maybe a combination of them. God has given me a second chance (and third , fourth, etc) when I had turned away from Him more than once as a young Christian years ago before I decided to get serious about it. He also always forgives when I know I’ve messed up and asked for His forgiveness & and of course, redemption because it’s what He accomplished on the cross for me. I think that is why I can relate most closely to characters in stories who experience any or all of these three things in their lives. It oftentimes reminds me of what God has accomplished in my own. :-)
I like other themes too, of course, but I think these are the three that are my most favorite. I love seeing characters who are redeemable and are willing to stretch & grow. And when they are able to forgive, either someone else or themselves, it’s when you see true change come & a freedom from the guilt. It’s wonderful to witness!
Beautifully said!!
I love this! So true about freedom!
When I created my author blog I chose Honor Hope Home as my three central words. Several years ago, I spent a month studying Honor because I grew up in abuse and had no idea what Honor meant. Hope means it doesn’t matter how bad things are God provides a way through. Home is a mindset and doesn’t depend on a place or a person but a centered life in Christ. He is all that is honorable, the author of hope, and nowhere is home if He isn’t there. All my stories have abuse survivors learning that they don’t have to stay mired in the past; it’s a lesson I’ve needed to learn. Jesus makes us new creatures in Him. Redemption is the HEA, but I think I focus more on Repentance. Sadly, too many see repentance as a punishment; I did for most of my life. Over the last few years, I’ve come to recognize it as a gift, the opportunity to change, to grow from ashes to beauty, to start fresh.
I love those themes. What a beautiful testimony!
Blessing on your writing,
Janet
Belonging, kindness and help are my themes, although, help may just be an extension of kindness. Like Valerie, above, I’m the youngest by a good margin and around age 9 or so went from 3 siblings and two parents to just two parents who were fighting. Belonging and companionship mean the world to me. Kindness is the open door through which we invite others into places of blessing. Those themes combine to make writing about conflict a challenge for me. The fact that God is always with me and that heaven will be spent with Him and those who know love first hand make me search hopefully for the character of Christ both in myself, in those around me and in the characters I write.
Believe. Faith. Grace.
Beautifully said!
Those are all good, Denise!
Blessings,
Janet