What is the difference between a theme and a motif?
In works of literature, a theme is generally considered an overarching truth--a message that serves as the core idea of the story. Themes provide insight (instead of serving as a mere subject), and they usually highlight some perception or point about the nature of humanity, society, the world, etc. Themes may be recurring, universal, stated, or implied.
Motifs, on the other hand, are repeated ideas or objects that frequent a work of literature. They occur as images, action, figures, or sounds and usually carry symbolic significance; that being said, they are not in themselves symbols.
Despite these two terms being very different, they do retain an important connection: a motif can be used by a writer to reinforce or contribute to the theme of a story.
The difference between a theme and a motif can be difficult to distinguish because they are so closely related; but a...
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theme is a dominant idea, issue, or topic of a story or poem. Some popular themes throughout literature are death, love, hate, revenge and friendship. A motif, though, is when a theme repeats itself throughout a story or poem. One might discuss a motif after reading a story and discovering that the same theme is found again and again at different points in the story. It's as if the author wants to highlight the theme's importance as it is demonstrated in different ways. One example of this is found in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's book "One Hundred Years of Solitude". In this book, the theme of solitude is portrayed from one generation to the next from grandparents to grandchildren. Each generation experiences solitude in a different way, but the motif is clearly outlined throughout the book.
What is the difference between a symbol and a motif in literature?
The primary difference is the motif requires repetition and symbols imply representation.
Symbols always stand for something. They are used in a representative way. This means that examples of symbolism will always offer a meaning (even if this meaning is open to interpretation). Of course, it is in the act of reading that objects, events, characters and ideas become symbolic. It is up to you, as the reader, to identify examples of symbolism. Every time you do, you will be making an interpretive claim that "object A" represents "idea A".
Motif is does not require this kind of correlation as motifs are not exclusively representative. If we look at the food references in The Great Gatsby, for example, we see a recurrent motif that is not necessarily symbolic because it doesn't seem to represent a single idea.
Motifs can become symbolic, which is perhaps where you get confused. If this is the case, an object, idea, character or event must be repeated and be representative.