What's the Difference Between the Theme of a Story and Its Moral?

Many Christian writers confuse the theme of a story with the moral of a story. They say, “I’m going to show how God takes care of the poor.” Or, “I’ll write a story that shows that even the most sinful prostitute-drug dealer-egotist-alcoholic-wife abuser- can be turned into a good person.” This intention is, of course, well-meaning but this moralizing premise is exactly where creative problems often start.

To create characters primarily to illustrate a Christian truth will not only create a story with flat characters, but it will produce a book that is moralistic and preachy and which will lack a unifying theme. “Ah,” I hear someone saying, “but isn’t a theme and a moral the same thing?” Well, no! Themes and morals are not the same thing.

Themes and morals intersect; they shadow and parallel each other. But a theme is broader than a moral. A moral is decided upon before a story is written; a theme is discovered by the author during the course of writing the novel. A moral is a single truth; a theme is a three-fold knot that is not easily unbraided. A moral is, well, moralistic and pious; a theme is more humanistic and shows how a moral works itself out in “real life.” Themes, then, are the life experience of a particular moral.

Characterization and Plot
To understand themes, we must understand characterization and plot. Why? Because the creative world is full of story plots, which are subtly changed depending on the story’s theme. Let’s consider three fairy tales: Goldilocks and the three bears, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rumplestiltskin. The basic plot of all these stories is this: Character A takes something from Character B. Depending on the culture, philosophy, and personality of the author, character A either has the right to take this particular thing or not. Character A is either a thief, a hero, a usurer, or an innocent. Likewise, Character B might be seen as evil and deserving to be robbed or as a true victim.