Prompt: What is the theme of Arthur C. Clarke’s short story "If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth"?
The theme of Arthur C. Clarke’s short story "If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth..."is that humans need to be careful with nuclear weapons to not go to war and destroy life on earth. The story opens with Marvin, a 10-year-old boy who is on a pilgrimage with his father to see his home planet Earth for the first time. As Marvin watches Earth rise, he sees an “evil phosphorescence” and remembers he’s looking at the “funeral pyre” of Earth and the “radioactive aftermath of Armageddon” (165). The reader can infer from this scene that the Earth was destroyed by nuclear weapons. As Marvin ponders Earth’s destruction, his father retells the story of the Armageddon and of the Colony being the “sole survivors” of the human race (165). While Marvin can’t understand why mankind went to war and destroyed the planet, the reader can understand Marvin’s “anguish of exile” from an earth that is too toxic to return to for many years yet to come. The reader also understands the author’s theme warning against nuclear war and earth’s destruction.
Everything you need to know for constructed response answers about narrative reading passages.
* Restate and Answer in the first ‘focus’ or thesis sentence. Borrow the KEY words to help you stay focused and to show your test readers your answer is focused.
* Give background information from the story that might be needed. Do this in the 2nd sentence.
* Cite – Bring in textual evidence to help support what you want to say as you use your words to answer the question. Remember, be natural and use your words. The evidence is meant to support what you have to say. LIMIT using long quotes. Use small quotes.
*Consider using chronological order to organize your evidence/paragraph.
* Use signal phrases like the following to introduce evidence: The author says…the author writes…the text says…the story shows…the author describes…the story opens with…
* Use transition phrases like the following: In the beginning of the story…as the story opens…as the action of the story rises…for example…additionally…this shows that…toward the end of the story…in conclusion…overall
* Explain all evidence. You should explain some in your own words before dropping in the evidence; and, you can explain more after the evidence in the same sentence or in the next sentence.
* Wrap up your paragraph with a final sentence starting with a conclusion-type transition word. Overall…finally…ultimately…in conclusion