Subtext isn’t the same as a theme or moral. The theme of a piece of writing is the general subject being explored, and it often can’t be reduced to a single statement. Subtext, on the other hand, can be. Theme is often overtly articulated in the writing. In certain screenplay-writing circles, for example, writers are told to be sure a secondary character verbally states the movie’s theme on a certain page in every script. Morals are similar. A parable or other type of lesson ends with “the moral of the story,” which is advice the writer would like readers to learn from the story and live by.
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