Answer and Explanation:
When reading a novel, we should be able to identify the topic and theme of the story as the reading progresses. To identify this, we must keep in mind that the topic is the term that represents what the story is telling, while the theme is the term that represents the meanings and subjects that the story is addressing during the development of the plot.
We can better exemplify the difference between these two elements using the novel "Their eyes were watching god." This novel tells the story of a "mestizo" girl because she was a descendant of blacks and whites in a completely racist and intolerant environment, mainly for mestizos who were rejected by both the black population and the white population. This is the topic of the novel, which shows which story the novel tells.
Themes, on the other hand, are the concepts and subjects of history, which are the balance between love and independence, racial intolerance and the search for fulfillment, since these are concepts discussed and analyzed during the work.