THE OBJECT OF THEME-WRITING is to make a student observe, to become
aware, to evaluate, to enrich himself. Any phase of life or literature
named or suggested in the foregoing chapters could be taken as a subject
for an essay. The most immature essay must be more than a summary; a
mere summary is never an essay. The writer must synthesize, make his own
combination of thoughts, facts, incidents, characteristics, anecdotes,
interpretations, illustrations, according to his own pattern. A writer
is a weaver, weaving various threads of various hues and textures into a
design that is his own.
"Look into thy heart and write." "Write what you know about." All this
is good advice in a way--but students have to write themes whether they
have anything to write or not. The way to get full of a subject, to
generate a conveyable interest, is to fill up on the subject. As clouds
are but transient forms of matter that "change but cannot die," so
most writing, even the best, is but a variation in form of experiences,
ideas, observations, emotions that have been recorded over and over.
In general, the materials a student weaves are derived from three
sources: what he has read, what he has heard, what he has observed and
experienced himself. If he chooses to sketch an interesting character,
he will make his sketch richer and more interesting if he reads all he
can find that illuminates his subject's background. If he sets out to
tell a legend or a series of related folk tales or anecdotes, he will
improve his telling by reading what he can on the subjects that his
proposed narratives treat of and by reading similar narratives
already written by others. If he wishes to tell what he knows about
rattlesnakes, buzzards, pet coyotes, Brahma cattle, prickly pear,
cottonwoods, Caddo Lake, the Brazos River, Santa Fe adobes, or other
features of the land, let him bolster and put into perspective his own
knowledge by reading what others have said on the matter. Knowledge
fosters originality. Reading gives ideas.
The list of subjects that follows is meant to be suggestive, and must
not be regarded as inclusive. The best subject for any writer is one
that he is interested in. A single name or category may afford scores
of subjects. For example, take Andy Adams, the writer about cowboys and
range life. His campfire yarns, the attitude of his cowboys toward their
horses, what he has to say about cows, the metaphor of the range as he
has recorded it, the placidity of his cowboys as opposed to Zane Grey
sensationalism, etc., are a few of the subjects to be derived from a
study of his books. Or take a category like "How the Early Settlers
Lived." Pioneer food, transportation, sociables, houses, neighborliness,
loneliness, living on game meat, etc., make subjects. Almost every
subject listed below will suggest either variations or associated
subjects.
The Humor of the Southwest Similes from Nature (Crockett is rich in
them) The Code of Individualism The Code of the Range Six-shooter Ethics
The Right to Kill The Tradition of Cowboy Gallantry (read Owen Wister's
_The Virginian_ and _A Journey in Search
of Christmas;_ also novels by
Eugene Manlove Rhodes)