AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL GENRES Memoir vs. Biography Introduction to The Color of Water Ms. Iacullo

BIOGRAPHY  History of a lifetime – Must cover entire life  Most important facts and events of someone’s life  Contains anecdotes, memories, trips and cherished moments  Is about another person

MEMOIR: THE COW  Autobiographical writing  Captures certain highlights or meaningful moments in one’s past  Contemplation of the meaning of that event at the time of the writing of the memoir  Much more emotional and connects the writer to someone or something that had and impact on their life

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MEMOIR FORM  Focus on a brief period of time or series of related events  Narrative structure (storytelling elements like setting, plot, imagery, characterization, foreshadowing/flashback, and irony and symbolism)  Fictional quality  Higher emotional level/more personal reconstruction of the events and their impact

MEMOIRS – ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE  Explores an event or series of related events that remain lodged in memory  Describes the events and then shows, either directly or indirectly why they are significant  Focused in time (not long)  Focuses on problem/conflict and its resolution and why the resolution is significant in your life

WHY WE READ MEMOIRS… BECAUSE GOOD READERS…  Make connections  Question  Visualize  Infer  Synthesize  …and these things expose essential truths and help us evaluate our own lives and the world around us!

GOOD READERS Make connections to books or works they read by: 1. Connect books they read by connecting it to another book (text- to-text) 2.Connect to something in their own life (text to self) 3.Connect to something in the world (text to world)