Discuss the themes of Left to Tell.

Let's begin by defining the term "theme," as literary themes are a somewhat complicated topic. In the past, many instructors would tell you that a theme is basically the one word that could summarize “the point” of a literary work (story, poem, novel). However, in reality, a theme is much more than that. It is the central idea that a literary work deals with. In shorter pieces, the theme might only be one idea, but in novels and longer works (epic poems, plays), you will find that more than one theme may surface.
Now, themes can be conceptual (what the reader imagines “the work is about”) and stated (what “the work actually says”). For example, you might read Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White and decide that the book is about friendship. Your conceptual theme for the book would then be “friendship”. However, this creates a problem with the occurrence of death in the book. At multiple points during the novel, characters face sacrifices and even death. These are the stated themes of the novel. But we’re not done yet.
A theme isn’t just one word. It’s basically a thesis for a work. You can’t just say friendship or sacrifice or death and have a theme. You must relate these into some kind of thesis statement. What about friendship, sacrifice, and death is White trying to tell us? We need a sentence to figure that out. When an instructor asks you for a sentence to describe the work, they’re really asking you for the theme(s) of that work.
So, in the case of Charlotte’s Web, one potential theme—based upon conceptual and stated themes—could be: “Friendship and love are powerful forces that confront us with great joy and great sorrow (death), and it’s how we face these challenges that determines our character.”
Now, using the explanation of theme above, we can apply this idea to Left to Tell to expand the author’s stated themes.
For starters, you may have noticed that forgiveness takes on an important role in this book. Ilibagiza, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, confronts her faith in the face of an unspeakable evil. As someone whose family was murdered and who had to hide from those murderers in a pastor’s bathroom for ninety-one days alongside seven other women, Ilibagiza had to negotiate her faith under circumstances most could only imagine. The act of forgiveness, coming from such a dark place in her life, couldn’t be given lightly. These were the people who murdered her family and left her terrified. How could she forgive them? In that question, we have the theme: by forgiving those who deserve it the least, we free them and ourselves from our darker impulses and lay claim to our grace.
Surrounding this theme of forgiveness are the themes of God and family. Often, you will see how multiple themes can arise in a story and how they can interconnect. God plays a central role in the negotiation of faith and forgiveness, and family provides Ilibagiza the impetus to confront these issues. If we were to distill these two themes into their respective sentences, we might say: (1) When we open ourselves to God’s grace, (s)he will teach us how to forgive, and (2) The memories of our loved ones live on in future generations.
As you can see, these themes are much clearer than simply the words “faith,” “God,” and “family.”
https://literarydevices.net/theme/

https://www.hayhouse.com/left-to-tell-7