🚀 go-pugleaf

   Several people responded to my posting and challenged what my choatic
theory or morality and theme.  I may be wrong about this, but I don't see
a difference between morality and theme.  A story with a theme is one that
tries to leave an underlining message ~ subliminal message for the reader
to grasp and apply (e.g. love conquers all, etc.).  Morality in fiction is
not really any different.  Take the morality of 'love conquers all' and
apply it a story.  What you end up with is a theme with which the story
is based.  Morality is an artistic work that teaches a moral lesson according
to Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary.  If this is true then what is
the difference between theme and morality, nothing.  Plain and simple when
someone attempts to subvert a story with their own ideas of morality, then
they are playing god with the mind of the reader.  Because morality in the
story is so subtle, it is subliminal and therefore, dangerous.  A means of
invoking thoughts and prejudices, love and hate, right and wrong, but who
among any writer has that responsibility.
   A story is just that.  Nothing more than one persons idea of reality or
un-reality (i.e. lack of reality).  High school english or college writing,
it doesn't matter, but wherever theme is taught it is an abuse of mankinds
free choice.  The freedom to choose what is moral or not, the freedom to
decide for themselves what is morality and what is immoral.  To write a
moralistic theme into a story is equlivent to artistic incest.  Think
about it.

Jon  -- My morality wasn't in question, I don't have any doubts about it.