The main idea of the text. How to determine the main idea of the text

Studying the text, whether it's an artistic novel, a scientific thesis, a pamphlet, a poem, an anecdote, the first thing the reader asks, sorting out words and sentences - what is written about here, what did the author want to express by typing these words? When the writer managed to fully reveal his idea, it is not difficult to understand it, the main idea of the text is clear already in the process of reading, and the leitmotif runs through the entire narrative. But when the idea itself is ephemeral, moreover it is expressed not literally, but by metaphors, figurative descriptions, it is quite difficult to understand the author. Each reader will see in the main idea of the text something of his own, close, depending on his worldview, the level of intelligence, social status in society. And it is very likely that what the reader has learned and understood will be far from such a concept as the basic idea of the text that the author himself tried to put into the work.

The importance of defining the main idea

In most cases, the general impression is formed even before the last sentence is read, and the high ideas of the writer with whom he started to work remain either incomprehensible or completely unknown. In this case it is very difficult for an inhabitant to understand the enthusiasm of his friends or the positive reviews of respected experts for this work. The puzzlement over the fact that someone in it has found something special, and someone does not, can at best puzzle, at worst - to form a kind of inferiority complex. The latter concerns especially impressionable readers, and there are many such. On the works that caused the polar reviews, it is worth paying special attention and understanding what these impressions are caused.

It is necessary to determine the main idea of the text. how To do this? For starters, you should answer a few questions: "What did the author want to express and convey to the reader in his work, what made him take up his pen?" You can determine the tasks that a writer, journalist or publicist has set for himself, based on comparing the time of writing the text And the time to which the author of the event suffered, described in it.

Typical examples of determining the basic in the text

Quite a typical example of this method of knowledge is Mikhail Bulgakov's immortal and ingenious work "The Dog's Heart". In each sentence, the whole passage - the writer's allegory on the events taking place in the country after the 1917 revolution. Here the theme and the main idea of the text are veiled under the improbable transformation of one living individual into another under the influence of external factors. Bulgakov's attitude to global transformations in the state and the minds of his citizens is expressed as accurately and frankly as possible. He conveyed his position to the reader through stylistic presentation of the text, coverage of the whole range of problems that arose in the country at that time, on the example of the private life of the inhabitants of a single apartment and their relations with others. Comparing the important and secondary events described in the story and taking place in the country, to understand how to find the main idea of the text can be through the presentation of these events by the author.

Authorial alignment

In addition to the example given in the definition of the main idea in the work, there are several ways of a general nature, without reference to the specific author and his work. The most common - careful reading of the text and the selection of several major associations that have arisen in the process of reading. If, from the first time, the author was able to understand and what he writes about, it is not worth hurry with the statement that the main idea of the text has been found. Better one or two sentences convey their understanding of the topic, and then re-read the work again. If the conviction that from the first time everything was understood correctly, it will be confirmed, then the main idea of the text is stated intelligibly and with an ideal submission. But if with each subsequent reading there will be more and more new associations, one should try to penetrate deeper into the above and at the same time get acquainted with the reviews of this work of the author. It is likely that in addition to himself, no one else did not understand. And in this case, it is impossible to choose a method how to find the main idea of a text.

Fortunately, there are very few works for the general public that can not be analyzed and sensibly perceived, and similar difficulties may arise when acquainted with topics of a narrow specific nature, but they tend to attract interest from a certain circle of readers whose mindset and life are close The main theme of these works.

If the topic is set by the author himself

So, back to the general rule of determining the main idea of the text. Having re-read the work two or three times, if the possibility, desire and necessity of this require, it is important to understand exactly what it is about and to retell its essence. Sometimes the main thing in the text is hidden by the layering of excessively lush and flowery phrases, it all depends on the style of presentation of the topic by the author. But if you managed to formulate the main thing with one short and concise phrase, then the author managed to convey to the reader his attitude to the described events or heroes.

From title to text

Sometimes the main idea of the work lies in its table of contents. It occurs quite often. Sometimes the name is the key to the whole work, and in this case the method, how to determine the basic idea of the text, Is to express an author's position. For example, the theme of Nikolai Chernyshevsky's novel "What to do?" Is determined by a direct answer to the question posed in its table of contents or in the characteristic chapters describing Vera Pavlovna's dreams. In the title of the novel the question mark at the end of the phrase is the key to finding the main idea. If the title of the text has its own names, the attitude towards them, which has developed after reading, are also keys to determining the main thing in the above.

Read and Think

And finally, another characteristic way of how to determine the basic idea of the text. To do this, it is necessary to understand what conclusions from what the narrative was about, the author himself does. This can be formalized as a result, to which the author led the reader, and at the end of the work, in several sentences, summed up the line under his idea. The example of morality in fables shows that in such cases the main idea is determined by the author himself, and the reader can either agree with it or not.