Themes in Dragonwings

A theme is a central idea, subject, or message in a story. Many stories have more than one important theme. For this activity, students will identify and illustrate the themes in Dragonwings. Teachers may want the students to identify and illustrate 3 themes, one for each cell, or identify one theme, and show three examples of it, one example per cell.

Examples of Themes in Dragonwings

Family

Moon Shadow had never met his father, and when he does, he has an enormous amount of respect for him. Windrider gave up everything for his family by moving to America many years ago, and makes money so they can all have a better life.

Friendship

It is clear that Moon Shadow’s friends are like family in America. The Whitlaws and the Company became very close to Windrider and Moon Shadow, and helped them a great deal in many ways.

Race

As a Chinese immigrant, Moon Shadow experiences many cultural differences. He and the other Tang people endure cruel racism and discrimination from the white people around them, whom they call “demons”. As Moon Shadow meets more kind “demons”, he realizes that not all Americans are bad people.

Dreams

Windrider has a big dream of building and flying his own airplane. Although it takes a long time and a lot of money, he never gives up and achieves his dream.

The Afterlife

Throughout the novel, the characters speak of previous and future lives. They believe in many lives, and honor the dead a great deal.