Defining the Autobiography
In a lecture on autobiography, Diane Howard states, "The focus of autobiographical writing and performing is on subjective questions, struggles, and representations" (Howard 1).” “Autobiography is a broad term that lends itself to a variety of meanings and intentions.” There are many differences between autobiographies, especially along gender lines.” Women tend to write about different subjects than men do. Despite subjectivity and differences, there are similarities that make autobiography an autobiography.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines autobiography as "the biography of a person narrated by himself".” This is a vague definition that does not delve into the common similarities found among many autobiographies that separates them from other forms of writing.
Author of The Forms of Autobiography, William C. Spengemann writes "an autobiography had to offer an at least ostensibly factual account of the writerís own life" (Spengemann 1).” The inclusion of fact in autobiography is what makes the writing valid.” In her introduction to Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, Eleanor Roosevelt writes, "the young are not afraid of telling the truth;" the entire diary offers an honest account of her persona, family life as well as details of WWII. (Frank xiii).” Autobiography needs to be truthful in its intention, and therefore a diary can be a good source of truth.” Facts are a fairly important aspect of the success of autobiography.
Despite the importance of factual truth, emotional truth also makes autobiographical writing credible.” The very last line of Anne Frankís Diary says "Will the reader take into consideration that when this story was written the writer had not cooled down from her fury!" (Frank 94).” This statement suggests that the events she just narrated are not factually correct, however, they are emotionally honest.” In her autobiographical essay, "How It Feels To Be Colored Me", Zora Neale Hurston speaks of Jazz in emotional terms as "Music. The great blobs of purple and red emotion" (Hurston 387).” In the midst of her Jazz frenzy, Hurston is "in the jungle and living in the jungle way.” My face is painted red and yellow and my body is painted blue.” My pules is throbbing like a war drum" (Hurston 387).” Hurstonís blobs of color are not necessarily factual, but they are an attempt to convey honest emotion.
In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, author Rebecca Skloot tells the true story of the woman who the famous HeLa cells originated from, and her children's lives thereafter. Skloot begins the book with a section called "A Few Words About This Book", in which a particular quote mentioned captured my attention. When Skloot began writing Henrietta's story, one of Henrietta's relatives told Skloot, "If you pretty up how people spoke and change the things they said, that's dishonest. It’s taking away their lives, their experiences, and their selves" (Skloot). After reading that quote, an array of questions entered my mind, the most important being, "Do all nonfiction authors take that idea into consideration?" Nonfiction is a very delicate and
In “Ain’t I a Woman”, Sojourner uses repetition, pathos and addressing opposing viewpoint to make her argument more persuasive, while in “ How it Feels to Be Colored Me”, Hurston changes her tones of writing and use metaphor to convince her audience.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is an autobiography written by Frederick Douglass himself. No one knows the hardships and difficult times that Frederick Douglass went through as a slave, better than himself. That is why Frederick Douglass is considered to be, in my opinion, is the most reliable author when it comes to telling the story of his life as a slave.
In ‘How it feels to be colored me’ Neale Hurston opens up to her pride and identity as an African-American. Hurston uses a wide variety of imagery, diction using figurative language freely with metaphors. Her tone is bordering controversial using local lingo.
Hurston, Zora Neale. “How It Feels to Be Colored Me.” Writer’s Presence: A Pool of Readings. 5th ed. Ed. Robert Atawan and Donald McQuade. Boston:Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006. 166-170. Print
In the essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” Zora Neale Hurston describes her life growing up in Florida and her racial identity as time goes on. Unlike many, she disassociates herself with “the sobbing school of Negrohood” that requires her to incessantly lay claim to past and present injustices and “whose feelings are all hurt by it”. Although she acknowledges times when she feels her racial difference, Hurston portray herself as “tragically colored.” Essentially, with her insistence that she is unhurt by the people treat her differently, Hurston’s narrative implies she is happier moving forward than complaining. Ironically, Hurston is empowered by her race and the double standard it imposes stating, “it is thrilling [that for every action,] I shall get twice as much praise or twice as much blame.”. Moreover, with her insistence that we are all equal under “The Great Stuffer of Bags,” she accepts every double standard and hardship as good. Hurston’s narrative of self empowerment moves and entertains the reader, while still drawing attention unjust treatment Hurston
Racial Groups: Conceptual Perspectives and Practical Suggestions. VanTassel-Baska, J.L., Cross, T. L. & Olenchak, F. R. (Eds.). Social-Emotional Curriculum With Gifted and Talented Students (pp. 133-151). Prufrock Press Inc. Waco, Texas.
In the summer of 1998 my family fled the newly created independent country of Croatia (Former-Yugoslavia) to the United States. My parents came here in hopes of finding a better life as the economy was still recovering from Croatia’s war of independence. We first settled in Amarillo, Texas for a few months. We traveled around the states for a year or so looking for other refugees. After some searching my parents decided to move to Connecticut as it offered the best incentives for refugees. Listening to stories about this time of my life has given me a chance to appreciate the help we received from various government programs that settled us, clothed us, fed us, and helped us become independent American citizens. Now I want to give back and the best way I know to do this is by teaching the future generations of Americans.
...e potential issues that arise when rely on first-hand accounts like Anne Moody’s. One of the major issues is that Moody could have twisted her interpretation of the events going on because she believed a specific way. All together, I believe autobiographies are a good source for history.
Who would have thought that writing about yourself could actually have an effect on others? This is actually the case with many autobiographies in history. Take Benjamin Franklin’s The Autobiography for example; in this piece, Franklin describes his own attempt at self improvement. He lists several virtues he was going to attempt to obtain, but he wasn’t successful in becoming the perfect man he had set out to be. However, this work of literature would prove to be very effectual. Benjamin Franklin’s The Autobiography had an effect on both himself and society especially through the ideas of industry, justice, and order.
In this sense, she wrote the memoirs to defend the honor and integrity of her father, uncle and brother, in order to tell the truth about the circumstance surrounding their deaths.
Both Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes were great writers but their attitudes towards their personal experience as an African American differed in many ways. These differences can be attributed to various reasons that range from gender to life experience but even though they had different perceptions regarding the African American experience, they both shared one common goal, racial equality through art. To accurately delve into the minds of the writers’ one must first consider authors background such as their childhood experience, education, as well their early adulthood to truly understand how it affected their writing in terms the similarities and differences of the voice and themes used with the works “How it Feels to be Colored Me” by Hurston and Hughes’ “The Negro Mother”. The importance of these factors directly correlate to how each author came to find their literary inspiration and voice that attributed to their works.
Usually, biographies describe the experiences or a specific incident in a person’s life. During the first colonies, women were unable to read or even spell therefore they were not capable of writing her own stories. Suffrage women had the opportunity to share their stories through their writings on their journals. “There are as well impressive biographies, often by relatives, describing the individual experiences of suffrage women, though in the more benighted versions of these women emerge as dehumanized saints”(3). During this era many people were able to document their experiences and stories through portraits and paintings but as it was stated in the book “founding sisters had neither the time nor the money nor the ego to sit for their
Zora Neale Hurston’s writing embodies the modernism themes of alienation and the reaffirmation of racial and social identity. She has a subjective style of writing in which comes from the inside of the character’s mind and heart, rather than from an external point of view. Hurston addresses the themes of race relations, discrimination, and racial and social identity. At a time when it is not considered beneficial to be “colored,” Hurston steps out of the norm and embraces her racial identity.
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl was a very distressing yet amazingly written book. Who would have thought that such a little person could have such a huge effect on the world? Anne?s father lived for many years after the war and made sure that Anne?s diary was published. Her diary was published in 1947 and was then made into a film. This diary helps people remember what Jews had to go through and hopefully reminds them of how lucky they are. By remembering, it is hoped that something like this will never happen again. This book was intriguing while incorporating many life lessons. Discrimination, unfair judgment, and racism are only a few of the many lessons that this book has to offer. With that, after reading this book, we have learned to not take the things we have for granted because in a matter of seconds, days, months, or even years, it could all be gone. As Anne said in her diary, ?In spite of everything, I still believe, people are truly good at heart?.