In order to infer a theme from a story, one must identify the central and its
conflict . . resolution
motif . . moral
character . . traits
author . . persona

conflict . . . resolution

The central conflict of the story determines how the characters change or grow as well as the issues the author would like to focus on. The resolution will help to identify the theme because it usually shows what the author's viewpoint on an issue is. For example, in The Lorax the main conflict is the Onceler cutting down all the trees and destroying the environment. In the end, the boy is given a seed to plant in hopes that he can bring back the truffula trees. The main theme is saving the environment. If at the end of the story, the Onceler won out and the boy realized that all the money made from destroying the environment was worth it, then there would be a different theme.

The other options simply don't work. Knowing the author does not help determine the theme, neither does identifying the character and its traits in isolation. Also, motif and moral are similar to theme. Not all of the time is there a moral to the story, so this would not be a helpful place to look.

the words “strangest” and “unusual” suggest that the narrator is about to tell the story of an odd or puzzling group of people.

d understatement