: Is it acceptable to have the theme of a story remain hidden to its characters? I am trying to expand the depth of my writing beyond simple storytelling. Although my previous novel was an action/adventure,

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I think it's acceptable to have the theme hidden from the author. Theme often connotes meaning, which in any form of art is subjective to the viewer. So if the author doesn't know what the theme is, there's no need for the characters to know.

Further, when the theme is obvious to the characters the literary work is often in danger of becoming pedantic.

Theme is for critics and book clubs. Write a good story first and worry about what it means only if you're writing with the intent to persuade; and if you do write with the intent to persuade you must be first and foremost entertaining.

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Yes, it is fine for the characters to be unaware of theme.

Jack London's Call of the Wild had clear themes. The animals were likely not aware of them. Orwell's Animal Farm.

It took me, the author, a while to identify the themes of my own story. I found them, with some thought. They rang true to me and I understood better why I wrote the story. The knowledge didn't change the story. The themes were there whether I knew it or not. However, knowing them, I can use the knowledge to sharpen the story if I choose.

If I, as an author, am less than clear on my own theme, and if there is a human trait to tell story without prioritizing theme, then it is fine for the characters to be less aware of theme.

If you assign a story, say, Lord of the Flies, to a high school class - And ask students to identify theme. You will have many answers. Some require more thought and may in fact fall 'wrong.' But many will be legitimate and backed by evidence and argument and writing.

The characters' jobs is to be true to themselves. Don't give them extra work. It will fall flat.

A good story will have theme. Identifying your themes is a good exercise and gives you a tool to improve upon your writing.

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Theme is a structural aspect of your writing, so it would ordinarily never be explicitly available to your characters --except in a post-modernist novel where they are aware they are fictional. Similarly, as a structural element, it should generally not call undue attention to itself. The reader should be able to enjoy the work perfectly well in complete ignorance of the theme.

That being the case, what is the purpose of theme, if not to call attention to itself? Like other structural elements, it is there to help you craft an enjoyable (meaningful, significant, immersive) reading experience that feels satisfying to the reader. Without a theme, a book can feel random, meaningless, self-indulgent, or like a waste of time. A successful theme binds the disparate elements of your book together into a satisfying whole.

Your characters and/or narrator don't necessarily need to be entirely forbidden from discussing the topic that composes your theme, but you'll want to be judicious about this. Like other structural elements, when theme is too often foregrounded, it can seem clumsy, strident and forced. A light sprinkling of explicit references can help the reader conceptualize your story without overly damaging their suspension of disbelief.

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I'm not sure.

Is the narrator of "All Quiet on the Western Front" aware of the themes of the story? He is very much aware of the horror and the tragedy of the war, and of how much it has changed him, but is he aware of how senseless and futile parts of it were? Like his own death? Is his awareness of the horror and the tragedy similar to the awareness of the reader?

Tevye the Dairyman is very definitely not aware of how his thinking himself smarter than he really is and his inability to notice what's going on around him cause his daughters' misfortunes. Nor is Don Quixote aware of being a parody.

On the other hand, Tolkien's characters explicitly talk about various themes in the "Lord of the Rings" (sometimes you cannot really come home, small people are capable of great deeds, etc.) As does Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago.

The writer should know what it is they're writing. But the characters and the narrator can be as aware or unaware as serves the writer's goals, I think.

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Do the characters or even the narrator have to understand that there is an underlying theme of the story?

I think obviously not; neither the characters or narrator need to know the theme.

Many books we feel to be "good" do have themes, either statements or topics, and the self-reinforcing nature of the different sub-plots (all variations on the theme) resonate with us readers even if we don't realize it consciously.

That is essentially the value of having a theme (message or topic), this resonance between character arcs, sub-plot variations, etc, instead of a stew of different character arcs with different kinds of goals. e.g. It helps if everybody is essentially seeking some aspect of love, instead of the myriad other goals they might have.

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