On the Translation of Themes

Josephine Jett

I didn’t like Wuthering Heights. I hated Heathcliff and Cathy and Linton and Hareton, so selfish there was nothing redeeming about them. I hated the idea of romance so powerful it killed, especially when it consumed so many others along with it. In spite of the fact that I disliked the book from front to back, I still read it cover to cover, maybe skipping a paragraph or two.

My opinions are my own, and I remain to be “not a fan” of the novel. But, naivety isn’t attractive, nor is unfounded, badly done controversiality Wuthering Heights is an extremely important book Undoubtedly, the writing is incredible, so it is no coincidence that Bronte’s words are not the topic of this essay. At first I didn’t like the book because I didn’t understand it of course, once I did, I still wasn’t exactly in love with it. It's no secret that Victorian era writing is something that goes over most of our heads. A lot of the time this is because we don’t desire to learn the details of language that is effectively dead, a lot of the time this is because we don’t like taking the time to understand. As I read the novel, I noticed myself not understanding Bronte’s words themselves I mean, when was the last time you heard someone use the word hale to describe one of good health or cur to describe an aggressive dog? I survived the first quarter of the book on context alone Then, one day as I was doing whatever anyone ever does on their phone, I heard the song "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush. This song, obviously drawn from Bronte's book, evoked this heavy, emotional feeling which I never got out of the novel The lyrics tell the story of Cathy and Heathcliff, using the same themes that Bronte emphasizes in the book: love, duality, and destruction. After hearing the song, the entire book suddenly made sense Why? Themes in literature have this amazing ability to, when picked up on by the right creative, translate and transcend time. The themes of all the greats are not isolated, and they aren’t extinct; if we don’t feel them it's because they aren’t accessible to us

I’d like to think that my life is guided by themes, but let's be real, I’m a high schooler with vague interests and way too much homework But I do know that regardless of whether it is a conscious effort or not, themes dictate the way we live because literature and media is not drawn from darkness but from life. Treasure Island!!! by Sara Levine, not to be confused with Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, is a representation of this exact idea. Levine’s story focuses on a woman, lost in life, who turns to Stevenson’s classic novel to give her life meaning, to apply the themes of the book to the way she led life. Levine identified these themes as “boldness, resolution, independence and horn-blowing”. We can look to Levine’s novel as a basis for the way that themes connect with people across time The original Treasure Island was published in 1882, 129 years before Levine’s unnamed, oblivious and unconcerned protagonist took its themes to heart as a way to reshape her unsatisfying life Now, Levine’s character looks to the themes of Stevenson’s novel with a level of admiration that more closely aligns with obsession, but for our purposes, the important thing is that Levine’s protagonist felt connected to the themes and values which molded them, not the plot or the relationships themselves. These particular values that Levine’s character clung to were not necessarily admirable, in fact they led to her stabbing her sister in the hand and a muchneeded intervention Yet the idea that a person can relate so intensely to the themes of a book a century older than them is what makes Levine’s book the perfect example of the translation of themes through time Levine’s character not only connected to the themes of Stevenson’s, but changed her life for or because of the novel.

“‘Don't tell me you're reading it,’ she said, as if I were doing something to the book, whereas in fact the book was doing something to me ” (Levine 14). This idea that Levine introduces is the focus of the rest of this piece of writing.

When we consider the fact that themes are the things that characterize a book and hold it together, that make it more than just some dialogue and description, we see that really the whole book is its theme This is a concept we ’ ve all known for a while; we were asked in middle school to identify the theme of the book we read every single day, we were given the definition of a theme in seventh grade, then eighth grade, then freshman year and so on We were taught how to see and identify themes. But when we also consider Levine’s perspective, that the book does something to us, themes don’t always need to be identified If we read enough books, if we observe the world around us, if we understand the functions of the English language, and if we live to experience and understand, we connect themes to books without realizing it. We understand the emotion or the intensity or the organic nature of a book and we connect it to the themes we already know, because the themes of books are not all unique because the themes of books come from the themes of life Books do something to us because they beg us to understand. They urge us to listen. They pester us to think. They demand that we feel. Why did I suddenly understand Wuthering Heights when I heard Kate Bush’s song? Because I was able to access the emotion and to listen to the themes when I was too blind to learn and understand the novel. Themes are carried on through books, but also through music, through movies, through art We cannot ignore them and we cannot insist that they do not apply to us because we separate ourselves from them by centuries. Themes translate the essentials of humanity If you cannot find them in your books, find them in your music, in your screens, find them in your life.