John-Raphael Straude defines autobiography as, “a dialogue of the self with itself in the present about the past for the sake of self-understanding” (Staude 249). Although autobiography may acquire many functions, its aid in understanding oneself is an important one. In particular, autobiography and narrative promote understanding of people’s lives, the world, and improve their sense of connectedness with the world around them.
One of the many important purposes that autobiography serves is to help the authors get to know themselves, and to help them better understand their lives. An essential factor to gaining this understanding is self-reflection, which involves mentally isolating themselves from the world in which they live in order to observe, analyze, and interpret who they are and the significance of circumstances in their lives. Although there is evidence to suggest benefits of self-evaluation in the autobiographical process, there is much controversy as to whether or not looking inward is self-destructive. Many critics claim that autobiography in terms of self-reflection is narcissistic. According to Alexander Lowen, a narcissist is “a person who is preoccupied with him- or herself to the exclusion of everyone else” (Lowen 6). In autobiography, some say that self-reflection, in the act of singling oneself out as unique from others, causes the author to become diverted from the influences of society’s values and norms. They claim that this in turn can cause an unrealistic sense of self, and because one is finding meaning and individualism in his/her experience, he/she finds oneself even deeper in isolation (Felski 89). In other words, because the writer is isolating him/herself from society by concentrating on the self as...
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When I decide to read a memoir, I imagine sitting down to read the story of someone’s life. I in vision myself learning s...
Methodological Individualism. (n.d.). Retrieved February 7, 2011, from This is the home page of J.R. Lucas, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~jrlucas/methind.html
Feeling good about oneself is an inherently good thing; however when this is intensified so severely that it becomes the focus of everyday life, complications and consequences may occur. Jean Twenge tries to warn today’s “Generation Me” about the dangers of their obsession with the self in her piece, “An Army of One: Me.” This desire to look out for only the individual has dramatic effects on the direction of today’s society. What has also evolved out of this self adoring society is a seemingly endless need for argument, especially in the educational field, an issue addressed by Debora Tannen in her essay, “The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue.” Of course, no researchers or educational experts expected the negative results such as narcissism and argumentative culture that followed from these teaching methods. These are unintended consequences and displaced risks, just as the types addressed in Edward Tenner’s, “Another Look Back, and A Look Ahead” but applied to a different subject. In effect, one problem causes another as an excess of self-esteem more often than not leads to narcissism. That development of narcissism promotes an argumentative culture in which everyone thinks they are right because confidence in oneself is far too high. Revenge effects may include constant irritability and excessive sensitivity, a lack of obtaining a good education, or in some cases pure laziness. Through a flawed system of education and the development of Generation Me, the attitude of the United States has unintentionally drifted towards narcissism and discontent.
It should be noted that gaining an identity in autobiographical writing is crucial “because literacy becomes a way of creating an identity where before there was none in the public discourse” (Finkelman, vol.2, 190). Although the identities of William and Ellen Craft may have been revealed partially before their narrative, their own words and experience have a much greater impact on the reader than if told by a secondary source.
To understand what Couser refers to as “particular way of writing one’s life” a close examination of the origin and the meaning of the word ‘memoir’ is necessary. The word has its origins in French and it derives from ‘mémoire’ meaning ‘memory’. Coulter elaborates that “ … being based on memory rather than research, a memoir will necessarily be very different from a formal biography. It will be, or resemble, a reminiscence, consisting of personal recollections" (Coulter 19). Because of this aspect of the memoir he then explains, “In turn, this creates the expectation that the narrative may be impressionistic and subjective rather than authoritatively fact based” (Coulter 19).
The author states, that by journaling an individual can begin to express the activities of the heart and start the process of becoming informed by what is known as the imaginal method in psychology circles. This method is a form of emotional exploration of interactions, relationships, and ideas. The ultimate goal of the imaginal method is to become aware of those inner suppressed emotions that affect relationships and perception. Utilizing this process, an individual would then reflect on ideas and thoughts that have been captured during the free-write period of journaling. Quite often what is revealed can be quite surprising and transforming at the same
Weisel-Barth, J 2014 ‘Review of “The Stories We Tell”’, International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, Vol.9(2), p.162-166, DOI: 10.1080/15551024.2014.884526
An autobiography is a story written by the author and describes his or her life experiences. The autobiography written by Benjamin Franklin and Olaudah Equiano written by himself are two autobiographies that are very similar and kind of different from each other. Both authors tell readers about their journeys whether they were good or bad. The authors give off a strong sense of imagery, which makes the readers feel as if they were actually there.
I could say without doubt that both my grades and my sporting achievements caused great satisfaction and pride to my parents. As a child I could perceive it, and these events helped to reinforced and molded future behaviors. During my teenage years come to I had much difficulty with love relationships even at time having inferiority complex after a breakup. My relationship with my father was not good until I reached adulthood, when I decided to take the initiative to improve it. Although I forgave my father, the shame of the slap is a ghost that hunts me once in a while till this day. Research studies conducted with adults show that intense vivid memories on autobiographical memory are repeated every decade; these studies also provide support for the psychosocial development theory of Erikson, (Conway & Holmes,
Throughout the year Professor Prudden has been teaching us the idea of the individual and when and how it came about. We have studied The French Revolution, Scientific Revolution, Colonialism, and Reformation, all stressing what made this time period important to the individual. We finished the class reading the novel Frankenstein with does a great job of demonstrating a man or “monster” creaking his own being. We have already determined that an individual is; the habit or principle of being independent and self-reliant. Mary Shelley demonstrates individuality through Frankenstein and leads to his internal isolation and loneliness. She shows that uniqueness is the most important aspect of individualism not only through Frankenstein but Victor
Corey, G. (2013). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy (9th Edition). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing.
Narrative is a fundamental aspect of an effective historical composition. A successful narrative can provide important sensory details that a straightforward analysis may omit. David Hackett Fischer suggests, “To reconstruct a series of happenings, the best and only instrument is narrative.” Even so, many historians still struggle with the status of narrative in scholarly works. Similar sentiments follow the genre of biography in history. Biography is equally controversial, as many historians have dissenting opinions regarding its treatment and official definition.
Some battles are more important than other’s like the one the character endures eternally. British literature as a whole pertains a lot of literary elements. But within these stories the most prominent is identity. A soul searching journey for one’s identity can begin at any stage of one’s life. The universal, time-transcendent idea of identity within British Literature attests to the human need for self knowledge, as it can be seen in the novels in Frankenstein, Beowulf, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Most people question the purpose of writing a journal. People who write a journal keep it to fulfill a basic human need – “self expression and reflection” (Sagan 1). Writing is known as one of the easiest ways to express your personality and who you truly are. You can write in a journal without having anyone judging you – unless you chose to have someone else read it of course. You may reflect on your writing while you are writing your journal/diary entries. Then, once you have expressed your thoughts, you can even go back to your past entries to reflect on what you have said before. Reflecting on your writing can help you develop as a person. It helps you think through a situation and possibly solve it. Reflections help generate ideas for how to improve as an individual. But really, it’s entertaining to re-read past memories and see how much...
Corey, G. (2011). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. (ninth ed., pp. 291-301). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.