Every author can create a varied world for the reader of their novel to live in. Authors also create a leading theme in a book to have the reader ponder. In Life as We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer, the primary theme is the importance of having a family, especially during unsettling times. In the beginning of Life as We Knew It, the foremost theme isn’t really that prominent. Only until the characters realize that family life is the most important concept in this terrifying new life is when the theme becomes a main part of the book.
In the beginning of Life as We Knew It, all of the characters led lives outside of family life. Of course they still loved each other dearly, yet they weren’t a crucial part of each other’s lives. Once the meteor crashes into the moon, though, that begins to alter. Susan Beth Pfeffer is able to develop the primary theme by having awful events happen to each character that makes them love family life even more. For example, Miranda, the main character, didn’t really love her pet cat very much. She always felt that he was an annoyance. During the middle of the nighttime, though, she lets the feline out for a bathroom break. He doesn’t come back. Miranda panics, and that panic makes her see how potent her infatuation with her pet is. Susan Beth Pfeffer has to create a traumatic occasion for Miranda to realize that, and doing so makes the primary theme even more potent.
Even though Susan Beth Pfeffer seems to create a world that no other author would be able to design, there is another writer that made a novel with the same primary theme as Life as We Knew It. That author is Susanne Collins of The Hunger Games. In The Hunger Games, the prime individual of the novel is Katniss. Katniss is like Miranda in many ways, and just a single example of that is how family affects her. In the start of The Hunger Games, the only two beings she truly loves are her best friend, Gale, and her younger sister, Prim. Katniss doesn’t feel almost any affection for her Mother. Susanne Collins develops the theme of importance of family by forcing Katniss to take her sister’s place and go and fight in the outdoor arena. Once she’s placed there, Katniss begins to have feelings of love evolve for her mom, and a newfound feeling of respect for what she’s gone through. Susanne Collins develops the leading theme by arranging awful predicaments to happen to the main character, just as Susan Beth Pfeffer does.
In our world, we see many awful disasters. Tornadoes, tsunamis, and hurricanes are just a few of those events. In the aftermath, what happens to the living? Usually, we begin to realize what truly matters in life, which is our family. After disasters, humans figure out that family is and should be the most potent theme in their life. That is how Susan Beth Pfeffer and Susanne Collins develop their themes in Life as We Knew It and The Hunger Games, by having terrible events happen to the primary characters. This makes them feel more affection for their family members, and has them understand that family relationship is the most leading theme in life.
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