Which of the following sentences is most clearly describing a theme?
a. the filled gourd represents education and understanding.
b. the second world war lasted from 1939 to 1945.
c. dark shadows lay across the path like the bars of a cage.
d. people can never escape the consequences of their misdeeds.

Which of the following sentences is most clearly describing a theme?

D. People can never escape the consequences of their misdeeds.

A theme is what is going to be talked about in an article or an essay. Sentence D describes a theme about the consequences of people's misdeeds. This sentence could easily serve as an essay's main topic.  

Sentence A is an analysis of a symbol, sentence B is a historical fact and sentence C is a narrative description; hence, they do not describe a theme.  

1. read the following excerpt from franklin d. roosevelt's "fireside chat 19":

on the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the germans in, let us say serbia or norway, us; that a successful russian offensive against the germans us; and that british successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

remember always that germany and italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the united states at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with britain or russia. and germany puts all the other republics of the americas into the same category of enemies. the people of our sister republics of this hemisphere can be honored by that fact.  

the true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. when we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. we americans are not destroyers — we are builders.

analyze the effectiveness of this excerpt. how does it function within the speech as a whole? how does the structure of the excerpt to convey the speech's purpose and key points? support your argument with evidence from the speech. (10 points)