Your written topic should show how you’ve adapted the broad issue of the individual and society to suit the particular texts you’re discussing. For example, you might choose to think about the issue in terms of gender and focus your attention on the conflict between societal demands and individual desires as they relate to women in two of the texts you’ve read. (This is just one example; we could come up with many more!)
Formulate your topic in the form of a single question you are asking about the two texts you’ve chosen. Your question should include the two texts you are writing about. Keep in mind that this is an analytical essay, not a descriiptive one; be sure that your question is one that will yield analysis rather than descriiption. This means not just letting us know what happens in the two texts, but also giving us a way of understanding or interpreting it.
One strategy you may find useful for coming up with your topic is as follows:
–What two texts do you want to write about?
–What area of overlap or point of connection do you see between the two texts?
–What are you asking about the two texts?
–Once you’ve identified the question you’re asking about your two texts, be sure that your question is not a “yes or no” or “either/or” question and that you will be providing an answer to the “so what?” question
