What is the theme in Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory by Peter Barry?

Instructional process is a theme in this book. The self-help instructional approach Peter Barry uses in "Beginning Theory" is pervasive throughout the literary and cultural theories presented. A casual reader can learn much about a school of literary criticism or cultural theory by simply reading through any chapter. Typically the first few pages of a chapter define and describe an historical period and comment on major concepts and writers within a literary theory.