That way a modern-day plague frames the play, which Mr. Wilson said is "self-contained in its theme of the pursuit of truth and taking responsibility for what you have to do".
His cycles are unusual in the way that they arrange self-contained narratives around themes, ideas and suggestive anecdotes.
A self-contained drama touching on themes of family, workplace and male bonding plays out as an ambulance is called and Freddie, in his strangely detached way, supervises the efforts to help his brother.
In contrast, Dance has the feel of a tight, self-contained volume, with strong themes emerging even amid the scattered plotlines of some half-dozen characters.
The episode, which contains three self-contained segments in which the Simpsons play different characters from the Bible, was written after Fox requested a Bible-themed episode that would air on Easter.
"To scry" is to peer into the future by means of divination, and the three self-contained pieces each deals with the theme of prophecy.
Produced by specialists called motion graphic designers (sometimes in conjunction with the director, sometimes not), title sequences are self-contained overtures that amplify a movie's theme or plot.
Its principle of organic growth through the interplay of musical themes was alien to Russian practice, which placed themes into a series of self-contained sections with no interaction or clear transition from one section to the next.
She contains multitudes, and remains self-contained.
The fact is, though, that in a book organised in self-contained narrative chapters, not every chapter conforms to this theme.
