100+ Literary Essay Topics For High Schoolers

Essay writing is an important activity that helps assess conceptual knowledge as well as writing skills. Students come across a variety of literary works like stories, plays, news items, etc. By writing a literary essay, they analyze and present their view of these works. The literary essay can also be written on topics that youth can easily relate to.

Literary essay writing differs from creative writing. You may need to stick to facts unlike the latter where you employ imaginative skills to put together a write-up.

As a teacher, you may need to have a repertoire of literary topics that can be given to high school students. Homeschoolers may also fulfill their needs to have essay topics in hand and stay aligned with the curriculum’s requirements. Take a look at the following list of literary essay topics that complement your needs to help the high school students express themselves.

Do you know what a literary essay means?

Well, it is nothing but the assessment of any general problem, a book, an entertainment material like movie or play, or a research paper. The focus is not on the correctness of the coverage of the topic but on the use of literary devices, and the way various presentation materials are employed in developing the essay.

The literary essay does not check your understanding; hence, you can write freely without thinking of getting judged.

Here is the list of literary essay topics that you can give to high school students as an activity, project, or homework.

Literary essay topics on School Issues

1. Analyze the effects of bullying in the school
2. Need of providing accommodations to dyslexic high schoolers
3. Impact of weekend activities on the overall development
4. Top rejuvenation activities to do during the summer break
5. Review summer internship programs
6. Are tests and quizzes really necessary in high school?
7. Ways to improve curriculum for high school
8. Long answers Vs. Short Summaries – What is more effective?
9. Role of psychological counseling in high school
10. Mobile phones should not be allowed in classes
11. School uniform – a must or just a burden?
12. Public speaking course is good for all
13. State of Library in your school
14. Should accommodations during tests be provided to all?
15. Importance of questioning the concepts
16. Do you support college fee cancellation?
17. Ways to support education of homeless children
18. Evaluate summer internship programs of your choice
19. Equality should be taught to children in school
20. Education and employment – Examine relationship

Literary essay topics on English literature

1. Portrayal of women in ‘Othello’
2. Relationships in ‘Pride and Prejudice’
3. Main characters of ‘Pride and Prejudice’
4. Jane Austen Vs. Thomas Hardy
5. Romance in Thomas Hardy
6. Societal influences in ‘Wuthering Heights’
7. Portrayal of Romance in ‘Wuthering Heights’
8. Explore justice and racism in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
9. Main characters in ‘The Scarlet Letter’
10. Central idea of the novel ‘The Scarlet Letter’
11. Tragedy in ‘Macbeth’
12. Economic depression in ‘Of Mice and Men’
13. Main characters and their bonding in ‘Of Mice and Men’
14. Central theme of ‘The Catcher in the Rye’
15. Mental state of the central character in ‘The Catcher in the Rye’
16. Monarchy in ‘Hamlet’
17. What does ‘Animal Farm’ symbolize?
18. Presentation of Future American Society in ‘Fahrenheit 451’
19. Main characters of ‘The Crucible’
20. Literary devices in ‘Animal Farm’
21. Madness behind ambition in ‘Macbeth’
22. Vengeance in ‘The Wuthering Heights’
23. Expectations of Society explained in ‘Frankenstein’
24. Animated character developed in ‘Frankenstein’
25. Tragedy in ‘The Crucible’
26. Superstitious acts in ‘The Crucible’
27. Social Injustice in ‘Oliver Twist’
28. Review of ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ by Mark Twain
29. Literary devices in ‘Harry Potter’
30. Shakespeare’s best plays and common idea in them

Literary topics to explore nature and surroundings

1. Various seasons in the USA
2. Our position in nature’s Food Chain
3. How is global warming impacting nature?
4. Species on the verge of extinction
5. Industrialization and nature
6. Rampant use of mobile phones and its impact on environment
7. Harmful effects of germs
8. Ozone layer depletion – causes and probable solutions
9. Creating green belts in your area – essential steps
10. Pros and cons of recycling plastic
11. Importance of promoting cruelty-free products
12. Impacts of spending time in nature
13. Therapeutic uses of pets
14. Ways to save water everyone must know
15. How to make houses self-sustained
16. Advantages of switching to solar and electrical energy
17. Disadvantages of deforestation
18. Cats and dogs as favorite pets
19. Types of clothes and shoes suitable for nature-lovers
20. Industrialization is the need of the hour
21. Role of growing plants in saving nature
22. Advantages of using energy-efficient devices at homes
23. Advantages of adopting green living
24. Best food habits to adopt for life
25. How everyone can become a nature’s savior?

Literary topics on Movies

1. Analyze the central idea of ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’
2. Psychological impacts of horror movies
3. Love theme of ‘Romeo & Juliet’
4. Depiction of Second World War in ‘Unbroken’
5. Development graph of story in ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’
6. Psychological impacts of roles on actors
7. Compare Book and Movie ‘Harry Potter’
8. Compare Book and Movie ‘Of Mice and Men’
9. 5 Best Feel-Good Movies
10. 5 best war-based movies

Literary essays on issues of daily life

1. Impact of pandemic on quality of life?
2. Best practices to follow in community living
3. How making friends helps in daily life
4. Advantages of planning activities for the day
5. Best time management practices easier to adopt
6. Car parking issues – Possible solutions
7. How to keep yourself motivated?
8. Future of IoT and its utility in our lives
9. Is technology helping us or spoiling us?
10. Things to include in daily schedule to make it more productive

Literary essay topics on Youth

1. What makes a person a responsible citizen?
2. How to become popular among friends
3. Influence of social media on the young population
4. Rampant use of social media and its impacts
5. Binge-watching is as harmful as binge eating
6. Obsession of youth with movie stars
7. Ways to tackle teen depression
8. Smoking- a growing concern among teens
9. Bad family environment and its impact on young members of family
10. Violent behavior in teens – Who is responsible?
11. How to convert difficulties into possibilities
12. Impact of music and reading on our personality
13. Camping activities and their role in personality development
14. Why is it important to cultivate a hobby as a teenager?
15. Why abusive language attracts teens easily
16. Growing world of OTT and teens
17. Weekend sleepovers – caution to take
18. Why is it important to talk to parents?
19. How would be the world without books?
20. Top 5 world-famous personalities that youth admire the most

Literary techniques analyzed in such essays

Wondering what to include in literary essays? Well, it depends from topic to topic. When asked to assess literary techniques, give a thorough reading to paragraphs. You may underline the sentences to keep important points in mind. The following components of literary techniques are to be included in the essay:

• Diction
• Structure of sentences
• Details provided
• Syntax
• Point of view
• Tone of the sentences or paragraphs

Wrapping up,

Penning down thoughts can help in myriad ways. Writing an essay may help develop an interest in areas like journalism. Literary essays provide a beautiful pretext to showcase what you have absorbed from books, school, people, and surrounding environments in total. So, pick the topic that interests you and have a wide target audience as well.

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