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A recurring image, phrase, or situation that accumulates meaning, distinct from a one-off symbol.
A motif is a recurring image, phrase, or situation that gains meaning each time it returns: rain before betrayal, a broken watch, a joke that sours.
Motifs are not theme by themselves; they *carry* theme when the story charges them with cost. Leitmotif is the musical cousin.
Why it matters
Gives you vocabulary for image systems without over-explaining symbols on the page.
Common pitfalls
A planted detail returns at payoff, and readers recognize motif in hindsight.