On Writing: Theme and Symbolism

Matthew Erbst

6/23/11

English AP

Number 2 done!

On Writing: Theme and Symbolism

One thing that King states that I find interesting is that almost all good fiction begins with a story. That the writer first writes the story or at least gets most of it on paper before symbolism or theme ever come into play. He calls symbols “grace-notes” or “ornamental touches” (197) and he declares that theme is something that appears as the book is being written, and is not thought of beforehand. Basically, he says that almost all theme and symbolism should be saved for the second draft.

While Stephen King's own experiences back up this claim, I don't see it as a general rule for all good fiction. There are many examples of prose where it is obvious that some thought of theme and symbolism were present before the story was written. He even cites one of these as an exception to his rule, George Orwell's Animal Farm. Yet I see this as more than an exception, I see it as simply part of a norm. There are many books where it is highly probable that the author had at least some inkling of theme before they wrote it. Heck, William Golding's entire plot in Lord of The Flies revolves around the darkness within humanity. Here are some other famous examples where some thought of theme probably went in before their writing: George Orwell's 1984, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, Joseph Heller's Catch-22, Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, William Golding's Lord of The Flies, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Grey, Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz (it began as silverite propaganda), etc.

I agree with King on the point that theme and symbolism do not need to be thought of before the writing of a story (or at all) for the story to be good. Although, I disagree with his statement that almost all good books do not begin with it in mind.