5. What is the theme of the story "The Wretched and the
Beautiful"?

A theme is the central idea or subject matter of a book.

In order to easily identify a theme in any book, it is important to:

First understand the plot of the book, which is simply the sequence of events that happens in the storyUnderstand how the author uses characterizationThen, identify the conflict in the book.Finally, identify the moral lesson which the author is trying to convey at the end of the story.

Therefore, to find the theme of the story "The Wretched and the Beautiful", follow the above steps.

Please note that a theme could be one of enlightenment, hope, anger, etc.

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It is about the complicity and smallness of human beings.

Explanation:

It deals with refugees. The refugees are the aliens who have crashed among the humans in a holiday. Te humans are scared of them but the aliens say it was due to the 'Cleaning Operation' in their home system.The aliens have too many limbs and they move oddly from place to place. The politicians decide to split the aliens and put them in the poorest countries without having any concern for them.Then few aliens who were more beautiful than humans come and take the aliens away. The people feel wretched are taken away by the beautiful.