Rice Moon Themes

Theme is the message of a selection. Theme teaches you a lesson. Some themes include listening to your elders, learning from your mistakes, nothing is more important than family, and treat others the way you want to be treated. Authors write these stories for others to read and learn from the character’s experience. Every story may have a different theme, but it is expressed with different characters, setting, and plot. After reading “Under the Rice Moon,” a clear and thoughtful theme for this selection is, “sometimes it takes a long time for someone to understand you.” Throughout the selection, the cliff swallow, a type of bird, is waiting for someone to understand him. He travels from place to place in a cage hoping to be released and to