Autobiography and Biography

-         the reconstruction/ retelling of past experience

-         the unfolding of a series of events over time

 

Main difference between the two:

-         biography: an account of a person’s life written by SOMEONE ELSE

-         autobiography: an account of a person’s life written by HIMSELF/HERSELF

 

Purpose/ Audience of autobiography and biography:

• an extremely important historical source and many useful insights can be gleaned from them
• reveals far more than a set of staid media reports can
• relies on personal reflection and there are times when the emotive nature of the events may overshadow judgment
• important in understanding and writing history 

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Autobiography

-         an account of a person's life written by that person

-         “auto” means “self”; “bio” means “of life”; “graph” means “write”

-         non-fiction

 

Genre: personal recount

 

 

What to write:

 

1.          Who you are in life? (state facts about your life)

-         state your name

-         what type of person are you?

-         when and where you were born?

-         where do you live?

-         where do you go to school/ work?

-         who do you live with?

 

 

2.          What does life mean to you? (how you see life)

-         are you happy or sad?

-         do you have a lot of friends? Or just a few?

-         do you have a boyfriend/ girlfriend?

-         do you think your relationship with your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife will last forever?

 

 

3.          What is your outlook on the future?

 

-         pick a year and explain how it will be like (but explain it through your eyes)

-         where will you be?

-         how will you be living?

-         will you be married? Any kids?

 

Structure:

-         Orientation: sets time, place and people involved. (“when”, “where” and “who”)

-         Events: a record of events usually in chronological order

-         Personal Comments: usually interpreted throughout the record of events/ can be biased

 

Language:

-         focus on specific or individual participants

-         use of nouns and pronouns to identify people (or animals or things involved)

-         use of past tense to locate events in relation to the writer/speaker

-         follows a chronological sequence of events

-         greater use of active voice than passive voice

-         use of adjectives to describe nouns

-         use of first person pronouns (I, we)

-         personal responses to the events may be included, particularly at the end

-         details are often chosen to add interest or humour

 

(taken from http://www.abc.edu.sv/seniors/English/Grades%206-8/Text%20Types/Written%20Recount/Tasks%20&%20Worksheets/Features%20of%20Recounts.htm)

 

 

Sample Autobiography

Title: The Autobiography Of William Sanders Scarborough: An American Journey From Slavery To Scholarship (African American Life Series)

Author: William S. Scarborough 

Edited by: Michele Valerie Ronnick (Introduction)

 

Summary on Amazon.com

-         traces Scarborough’s path out of slavery in Macon, Georgia, to a prolific scholarly career that culminated with his presidency of Wilberforce University.

 

 

An excerpt from Chapter 1 – Parentage

 

 

…….

 

My father was born near Augusta, Georgia about 1822. One of his great grandfathers was said to have been a full-blooded African, the son of an African chief. To this descent he always referred with a feeling of superiority. This infusion coupled with a strain of Anglo-Saxon blood gave to him a carriage of dignity that became him well though he was not a stalwart man. He was rather short of stature and somewhat stocky build,brown skin, rounded pleasant face, with high forehead, and a kindly eye that observed everything.

My mother was of very mixed blood. Her mother was a mulatto with Anglo-Saxon admixture. One of her grandfathers was a Spaniard and another was a full-blooded Indian of the Muskhogean stock, so named from the powerful confederacy of North American Indians among whose tribes were the Mitchhite [Hitchiti] portion of the Seminoles and of the Yamari [Yamasee] and Yamacraws as ethnological history records. The last two named tribes lived on the lower Savannah river. They are known in history as especially friendly to the English colonies there. ……

 

I was born under the slave system, and because of the law I followed the condition of my mother. She, however, fortunately for us all, was only nominally in servitude, as the man who claimed her services allowed her to have her own time to spend as she pleased,for which she was paid a small sum. She was thus virtually her own mistress and at her marriage had her own home and was enabled to give good care to her family.

 

 

-         the autobiography starts by introducing the parents of William S. Scarborough

è then introduces himself (states facts of his life)

-         provides a very clear background information of himself

-         the word choice of “I”

-         simple past tense

-         (underlined sentence) use of adjectives to describe his father

 

 

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Biography

-         account of the life of a person written, produced or composed by another

-         non-fiction

 

 

 

What to write:

-         Date and place of birth and death

-         Family information

-         Lifetime accomplishments

-         Major events of life

-         Effects/impact on society, historical significance

 

 

 

Genre: factual recount

 

 

Features of Biographies:

 

-         employs a third person narrator (third person pronouns: he, she it, they)

-         can be written from a bird eye’s view

-         the narrator is usually impersonal – neither part of the world described nor a character in the story

-         goes in chronological order

-         simple past tense

-         dialogue – allows the characters to speak for themselves

-         inappropriate to mention personal feelings

-         appropriate to include explanations and justifications of events

-         precise details of time, place and manner

-         descriptive details included

-         passive and active voices may both be used

 

 

 

Sample Biography

Title: Anne Frank: The Biography

Author: Melissa Müller

 

 

An excerpt from the chapter – The Arrest 

Hush. Be quiet. Whisper. Walk softly...take off your shoes. Who's still in the bathroom? The water's running. For God's sake, don't flush the toilet! After two years you should know better than to be so careless. Empty the chamber pots. Shove the beds back out of the way. The church bells are already ringing the half hour. When the workers arrive at 8:30, there has to be dead silence.

 

The usual morning ritual in the secret annex. At 6:45 the alarm clock goes off in Hermann and Auguste van Pels's room, so loud and shrill that it wakes the Franks and Fritz Pfeffer, who sleep one floor below. The sounds that come next are maddeningly familiar. A well-aimed blow from Mrs. van Pels silences the alarm. The floor creaks, softly at first, then louder. Mr. van Pels gets up, creeps down the steep stairs, and, the first in the bathroom, hurries to finish.

 

Anne waits in bed until she hears the bathroom door creak again. Her roommate, Fritz Pfeffer, is next. Anne sighs, relieved, enjoying these few precious moments of solitude. With eyes closed, she listens to the birdsong in the backyard and stretches in her bed. Bed is hardly the word for the narrow sofa she has lengthened by putting a chair at one end. But Anne thinks it's luxurious. Miep Gies, who brings the Franks their groceries, has told her that others in hiding are sleeping on the floor in tiny windowless sheds or in damp cellars. Dutifully, Anne gets up and opens the blackout curtains. Discipline rules their lives here. She glances at the world outside. The foggy Friday morning promises to turn into a gloriously warm summer day. If she could just, only for a few minutes... But she must be patient. It won't be much longer now. The attempt to assassinate Hitler two weeks ago has revived everyone's hopes... Perhaps she can go back to school the fall. Her father and Mr. van Pels are sure that everything will be over in October, that they will be free... It is already August. August 4, 1944.

 

 

-         third person narrator (without the use of “I”, but “she”)

-         precise details of time and place

-         a few characters can be taken into account at the same time

è (bird eye’s view) (see underlined)

-         goes in chronological order

-         simple past tense