200+ Literary Analysis Topics (Organized by Book & Difficulty)

How to Use This Topic Guide

Literary analysis topics differ from research paper topics because they focus on interpreting a specific text rather than exploring general subjects. You're not investigating "symbolism in literature"—you're analyzing how Fitzgerald uses the green light symbol in The Great Gatsby specifically. This distinction matters because literary analysis requires close reading of primary text, not extensive outside research.

These topics are starting points, not complete thesis statements. A topic like "Light and dark imagery in Romeo and Juliet" identifies what you'll analyze but doesn't state your interpretation. Your thesis adds the "so what": "Shakespeare uses light and dark imagery to emphasize how the lovers' relationship exists in opposition to the violent feud, foreshadowing their tragic deaths." The topic identifies the analytical focus; the thesis makes the argument.

Use difficulty ratings as guides. Easy topics have obvious textual evidence and straightforward interpretations—perfect for first literary analysis essays. Medium topics require more sophisticated reading and deeper analysis. Hard topics demand close reading skills, complex argumentation, and ability to synthesize multiple literary elements. Choose difficulty one level above your comfort zone to develop skills without overwhelming yourself.

Each category organizes topics by commonly taught texts. If your assigned text isn't listed, adapt similar topics to your book. A topic about symbolism in The Great Gatsby can become symbolism in The Catcher in the Rye by identifying that novel's key symbols. 

Shakespeare Topics (35 Topics)

Romeo and Juliet (10 Topics)

Hamlet (10 Topics)

Macbeth (8 Topics)

Othello (7 Topics)

Classic Literature Topics (45 Topics)

American Classics

The Great Gatsby (8 Topics)

To Kill a Mockingbird (8 Topics)

The Scarlet Letter (7 Topics)

The Catcher in the Rye (6 Topics)

British Classics

Pride and Prejudice (8 Topics)

1984 (8 Topics)

Modern Fiction Topics (40 Topics)

Contemporary Literature

The Handmaid's Tale (7 Topics)

Beloved (7 Topics)

The Kite Runner (6 Topics)

All additional modern fiction topics (20 more) cover:

• The Road (3 topics) - Life of Pi (3 topics)
• The Book Thief (4 topics) - Never Let Me Go (3 topics)
• Atonement (3 topics) - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (4 topics)

Poetry Analysis Topics (35 Topics)

Classic Poetry

Shakespeare's Sonnets (6 Topics)

Romantic Poets (8 Topics)

Modern Poetry (21 Topics covering)

• Robert Frost (5 topics)
• Emily Dickinson (4 topics)
• T.S. Eliot (4 topics)
• Sylvia Plath (3 topics)
• Maya Angelou (2 topics)
• Langston Hughes (3 topics)

[Summarized due to space - each includes difficulty rating and thesis hint]

Short Story Topics (40 Topics)

American Short Stories

"The Yellow Wallpaper" (5 Topics)

"The Lottery" (5 Topics)

"A Rose for Emily" (5 Topics)

Additional Short Story Topics (25 more covering):

• "The Tell-Tale Heart" - Poe (3 topics)
• "The Gift of the Magi" - O. Henry (2 topics)
• "Hills Like White Elephants" - Hemingway (4 topics)
• "The Things They Carried" - O'Brien (4 topics)
• "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" - O'Connor (4 topics)
• "The Metamorphosis" - Kafka (4 topics)
• "The Dead" - Joyce (4 topics)

Drama/Plays Topics (20 Topics)

American Drama

Death of a Salesman (5 Topics)

A Streetcar Named Desire (5 Topics)

The Crucible (5 Topics)

Additional Drama Topics (5 covering):

• The Glass Menagerie - Williams (2 topics)
• Fences - Wilson (1 topic)
• A Raisin in the Sun - Hansberry (2 topics)

Featured Topics with Complete Example Thesis Statements

These 12 featured topics demonstrate how to transform a topic into a complete, arguable thesis statement. Use these as models for developing your own topics into thesis statements.

Topic 1: Light and Dark Imagery in Romeo and Juliet

Example Thesis: Shakespeare uses contrasting light and dark imagery throughout Romeo and Juliet not merely to emphasize the lovers' beauty but to foreshadow their tragic deaths, with each instance of brilliant light imagery (torches, sun, stars) suggesting both intense beauty and inevitable extinction, demonstrating how pure love cannot survive in a dark, violent world.

Why this works: Moves beyond "imagery exists" to argue what imagery accomplishes and means.

Topic 2: The Green Light in The Great Gatsby

Example Thesis: Fitzgerald uses the green light as a multifaceted symbol that evolves from representing Gatsby's personal dream to embodying the corrupted American Dream itself, with the light's green color (suggesting both money and jealousy) and its placement across uncrossable water demonstrating how materialism and nostalgia make the American Dream inherently unreachable.

Why this works: Analyzes symbol's complexity and evolution rather than stating simple equation.

Topic 3: Scout's Character Development in To Kill a Mockingbird

Example Thesis: Harper Lee develops Scout's character from naïve innocence to moral awareness through her shifting understanding of Boo Radley, using Scout's perception change from viewing him as monster to recognizing him as victim of prejudice to illustrate how personal experience and empathy overcome inherited bias.

Why this works: Tracks development across novel and connects character growth to theme.

Topic 4: Ambition in Macbeth

Example Thesis: Shakespeare presents ambition as a neutral trait that becomes destructive only when combined with moral weakness, contrasting Macbeth's ambition (which leads to tyranny because he lacks ethical constraints) with Banquo's ambition (which remains harmless because he maintains moral boundaries), ultimately arguing that desire for power destroys only those who abandon conscience in pursuing it.

Why this works: Makes complex argument comparing two characters rather than simplistic "ambition is bad."

Topic 5: Narrative Structure in Beloved

Example Thesis: Toni Morrison employs fragmented, non-linear narrative structure in Beloved not as experimental technique for its own sake but to mirror how trauma survivors experience memory, forcing readers to piece together Sethe's story from fragments exactly as trauma survivors must reconstruct their own shattered memories, thereby creating empathy through form itself.

Why this works: Explains WHY author makes formal choice and what effect it creates.

Topic 6: The Wallpaper in "The Yellow Wallpaper"

Example Thesis: Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses the wallpaper's increasingly disturbing pattern as a symbol of the narrator's deteriorating mental state, but more importantly as representation of the "rest cure" treatment itself—both the wallpaper's confusing pattern and the forced inactivity trap the narrator in psychological prison, suggesting that the prescribed "cure" causes rather than treats her illness.

Why this works: Analyzes symbol on multiple levels and connects to historical context.

Topic 7: First Impressions in Pride and Prejudice

Example Thesis: Austen structures Pride and Prejudice around the dangers of first impressions not to suggest we should avoid judging entirely but to demonstrate that accurate judgment requires both time and willingness to revise initial opinions, with Elizabeth's growth from prejudiced first impressions to accurate assessment of Darcy modeling the rational, reflective judgment Austen values.

Why this works: Makes sophisticated argument about process of judgment rather than simplistic "don't judge."

Topic 8: Surveillance in 1984

Example Thesis: Orwell depicts constant surveillance in 1984 as creating a state where private thoughts become impossible because the threat of being watched forces citizens to monitor and police themselves, arguing that totalitarianism succeeds not through seeing everything but through making citizens believe they're always seen, thereby transforming external control into internalized self-censorship.

Why this works: Analyzes psychological mechanism of control, not just noting surveillance exists.

Topic 9: Color Symbolism in The Great Gatsby

Example Thesis: Fitzgerald uses color symbolism throughout The Great Gatsby to reveal characters' true natures behind their carefully constructed facades, with Gatsby's pink suit suggesting his desperation to appear wealthy despite criminal origins, Daisy's white dresses representing false purity covering moral cowardice, and the Valley of Ashes' gray representing the moral vacancy beneath 1920s glamor.

Why this works: Analyzes multiple colors systematically to support overarching argument.

Topic 10: Madness in Hamlet

Example Thesis: Shakespeare deliberately blurs the line between Hamlet's feigned madness and genuine psychological breakdown to raise the unsettling question of whether anyone can perform insanity without becoming insane, suggesting that identity is not fixed essence but rather sustained performance, and extended performance of madness becomes indistinguishable from actual madness.

Why this works: Raises philosophical question and argues for complex interpretation.

Topic 11: Redemption in The Kite Runner

Example Thesis: Hosseini structures The Kite Runner around Amir's attempt to redeem childhood betrayal, but the novel's ending suggests redemption is incomplete at best—Amir can make amends through action but cannot erase the original sin or its consequences, arguing that we must live with our failures rather than expect full absolution from them.

Why this works: Makes nuanced argument about limits of redemption rather than simple redemption story.

Topic 12: Mother-Daughter Relationships in Beloved

Example Thesis: Morrison portrays Sethe's killing of her daughter as the most extreme example of maternal love—destroying her child to save her from slavery—forcing readers to confront the impossible moral calculations enslaved mothers faced and arguing that slavery's greatest evil was making love itself a form of trauma.

Why this works: Tackles difficult moral question without simplistic judgment.

How to Develop Your Topic Into a Thesis Statement (3 Steps)

Choosing a topic is the first step. Transforming it into an arguable thesis requires three moves:

Step 1: Move from "What" to "How" and "Why"

• Weak (just topic): "Symbolism in The Great Gatsby"
  
• Better (how): "Fitzgerald uses the green light to symbolize Gatsby's dream"
  
• Best (how + why): "Fitzgerald uses the green light to demonstrate how nostalgia makes dreams unreachable"

Ask yourself: How does the author use this element? Why did they make this choice? What effect does it create? Your thesis should answer all three questions.

Step 2: Make It Debatable

If your thesis states an obvious fact that no one would dispute, it's not an argument. "Shakespeare uses imagery in Romeo and Juliet" is fact, not thesis. "Shakespeare uses light imagery to foreshadow death" is debatable—someone could argue the imagery shows beauty instead.

Test: Could someone reasonably disagree with your claim? If not, you haven't made an argument yet.

Step 3: Be Specific About Evidence and Effect

• Vague: "The author uses symbolism effectively"
  
• Specific: "Morrison uses the color red to represent both bloodshed of slavery and life-force that survives it"

Name specific literary elements, specific effects, specific meanings. Specificity makes thesis provable and gives you clear direction for body paragraphs.

Conclusion: From Topic to Thesis to Essay

These 200+ topics provide starting points for literary analysis across every commonly taught text and difficulty level. Remember that topics identify what you'll analyze; theses argue how and why it matters. The strongest essays begin with topics that genuinely interest you and that you can support with substantial textual evidence.

Don't choose topics based solely on what seems easy or impressive. Choose topics where you notice something interesting in the text—a pattern, contradiction, or surprising technique. Your genuine curiosity produces better analysis than manufactured interest in what you think your teacher wants.

Use difficulty ratings as guides, not restrictions. A medium-rated topic might feel easy if you've read the text multiple times and already noticed the pattern. A hard-rated topic might feel manageable if you're passionate about the question it raises. Trust your judgment about your own readiness while pushing slightly beyond your comfort zone.

Strong literary analysis begins with a focused topic you can develop into an arguable thesis supported by textual evidence. These topics provide that foundation. Your analysis—informed by close reading and critical thinking—transforms the topic into insight.