Analysis Of Writing Autobiography By Patricia Hampl

Brandon Baltazar

Dr. Nadia Swerdlow

English 101

Monday/Wednesday 9:00 A.M

7 March 2018

Draft

Memory is a fickle thing, often when recalling memories, one does not completely recall the whole truth. Often, one stretches the truth or lies about certain memories. In addition, memories are important because without memory there would be not past self, only our present self. Meaning there will be no concept of self-identity.

Memories help shape our current self. So why would someone lie about a memory? Does one even benefit from lying to themselves? Memories represent the change in our self, so it makes sense that someone would lie about a memory to believe, that the person has change over the years. By answering these questions, one can better

Hampl is a poet and a writer with an B.A in English from the University of Minnesota, and author the of “Writing Autobiography”. In Hampl’s article, she reveals her difficulty in recalling her past as a child. In the beginning, she starts out with many details of her setting and the people around her. She particularly takes notice of Sister Olive and how Sister Olive taught her to play the piano. While Sister Olive was showing her to play the middle C, Hampl notice how Sister Olive sneeze while the sun was out. Hampl remarks: “Things were not, after all, necessarily what they seemed. Appearance deceived: here was the sun acting totally out of character. . .” (98) reveals how Hampl realizes something was odd about the sneeze and the weather. To which, Hampl concludes that the memory may not be completely truth and sometimes it’s hard to distinguish memory and imagination. In addition, Hampl recalls Mary Kathrine Reilly, a fellow student who according to her was better at playing at piano. At their first exchange Hampl concludes that, “she would be the leader, and I the side-kick” (99) but Hampl later says that whole memory was also a lie. Which demonstrates how memories affects someone’s self-identity, as it makes Hampl look like a follower not a leader. Furthermore, Hampl’s memory of Mary demonstrate, how the memory affects the

She also states that we often lie about our memories, but not intentionally we lie because we feel we must. Furthermore, Hampl illustrates the benefits altering memories can have on writing a memoir, as she is, “forced to admit that memoir is not a matter of transcription” (101) meaning that writing memoirs often require some imagination. To summarize the above, one can see the effects that memories can have on the self-identity and see it’s