Themes

[Hunnii]

I'm taking an online course, Writer's Craft and we have to create short stories (of about 600 words) that focus on a specific theme. I know that once I get into a story, I have no problem in pouring out my thoughts into it. But I'm struggling on the first step - I can't think of themes!
The first short story I wrote for my assignment had a theme along the lines of, "Communication is necessary to have a healthy/ strong relationship between people".
I would like to bring out deep themes that reveal truths about human nature. I've searched online, but I haven't found anything that helped me. So I thought that maybe my best bet would be to turn to writers and maybe they can give me some ideas because they've had experience.

So, I ask, do you have any theme ideas?

And I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

[blp]

I think the problem with your communication theme is that it's somewhat simplistic. I think the best themes are around things that cause us difficulty - dilemmas, questions, contradictions and conflicts. The desire to be honest vs. the need to protect someone from hurtful information, for instance, or the question of why someone would want to be 'good' - to achieve an end beyond it, or for it's own sake. These are rather dry examples and, as such, I don't think they have much value except as pointers. These kinds of problem are only interesting to the extent that they address the problems that living presents us with. Why not try to think of examples from your own life of questions you find genuinely difficult, then think about ways of dramatising them?