Autobiography, Biography, Diary, and Letter Writing - Essay Example

4 Questions about autobiography, biography, diary and letter writing 4 Questions about autobiography, biography, diary and letter writing 1.0.  The distinction between autobiography, biography, diary and letter writing Autobiographies, biographies, diaries and letters have distinctive characteristics. As seen in the work of Jolly (2013), biographies refers to stories written about other persons, but not written y those persons. Biographies involve the person’s impersonal life-education, work amongst others- that they underwent. At most times, biographies are complied in the third person and are mostly published in the form of a book or at times recorded as movies. A good example is the Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley a biography that talks of Elvis, his life in music. This biography clearly brings out the man and his impact in the world, especially in terms of musical transformation (Guralnick, 2012). Autobiographies, on the other hand involve stories compiled about an individual’s life but written by those particular people (Jolly, 2013). These individuals narrate their life and times. The Autobiography of Malcolm X is a good example. This autography was first written in 1965 by Malcolm explaining his life since childhood, the death of his father to his life as a human rights activist (Malcolm, 2001). Delafield (2009) says that a diary is a record of events in someone’s’ life compiled in one document. Diaries may be compiled over a limited time period such as a year, week or even month. The author also notes that diaries are narrated by the specific subjects and are usually for those persons specifically as opposed to biographies, autobiographies or even letters (Delafield, 2009). Simply, diaries are daily journal of daily events, such as one’s thoughts, actions, moods or actions. Pepys’ diary is a valid example. This diary was kept from January 1660 and records his daily life for about ten years, his women, friends, and businesses. He also explains his insecurities, worries, and irritable relationship with his spouse (Pepys, 2010). Lastly, Delafield (2009) explains that letters are a form of communication that confidential, personal or private in nature. Letters are also defined as notes that are written to friends or families. Letters, as Delafield (2009) says must have a recipient. An emphasis on the Paston Letters would explain this. These letters entail a collection of notes that consist of the messages from the members of the Paston family. From the letters, one could easily trace the state papers and other vital documents that were compiled by that particular family (Gairdner, 2008). These letters were sent to various recipients who had an interest with the family. 2.0. Aims of autobiography and the specific stylistic features As seen in the work of Jolly (2013), autobiographical writing has numerous functions. First the author may aim at recording their sense of events in their lives. This is to mean that autobiographies serve the purpose of recording information that happened in an individual’s life. Through this record of events, writers credit some individuals who helped them succeed in their lives and also who contributed in shaping who they are in their present life. Blair (2011) is a record of events of Blair’s political life while in office and beyond. The autobiography also records his achievements and how he used his political power to positively shape the history of Britain. He also explains his interventions in war such as that of Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq (Blair, 2011). Clearly from this work one could easily validate the fact that autobiographies store information that happened in the past. He quotes, “…the only way we win is by being the party of empowerment, and that requires a state that is more minimalist and strategic…”(Blair, 2011). Secondly, autobiographies serve the purpose of communicating vital information about life especially the experiences that the individuals went through. Through this role of communication, autobiographies have been credited for their ability to allow writers justify actions that they took part in, whether correct or wrong despite their societal implications. The autobiography of Angelou (2012) plays the communication role. The author communicates on the tragedies that faced her in her childhood years. Through this autobiography, it is easy to explain the worst experiences that the author faced in her stay in America and how her tragedies have changed her personality and perception of life today. She writes, “…my policy is I’d rather stick my hand in a dog’s mouth than in a nigger’s…” (Angelou, 2012). Stylistic features used by writers help in communicating the intended messages to the readers. These features help the authors disclose the events that shaped their lives. The author may use characters to explain their lives. The author may use these characters to explain the setting of their lives and details about their lives that could only be understood in relation to these characters. A good example is when Blair (2011) uses the example of Princess Diana to explain that he had a huge role to play to fit in her footsteps. The author may also apply the feature of flashback so as clearly explain their history and times. Blair (2011) uses flashback to explain the wars that took place in his times while in office, for instance the war in Kosovo. The authors also write the piece in the first person to communicate their stories as Angelou (2012) does. 3. 0. A short piece of autobiography My name is John Thomas. I was born in 1964, March 28. My home town is in New York. While I was a small boy, I was adopted by Catherine Jones and Joseph Eliot who have been my parents ever since. My name Thomas is our family’s surname. According to my “new mother”, I was given the name as my father wished that all those boys that would be born after his death would be given the name. I also have a small sister who was named after my birth mother. My new family and I live in Atlanta where I refer to as my home after we left New York. My parents died in a tragic accident and we could not stay with our grandparents as they are too old to care for us. I attended school in Greenville School, where I was an active part of the Debate society which I believe nurtured my skills as an orator. I was also in the President Awards Scheme club that won me several prizes and awarded me merit certificates. I however graduated from Greenville School in 1981. With my grades exemplary, I decided to study Criminology at Massachusetts University. This would take me four years to the maximum. I selected this course so that I could get to the basis of the unlawful cases in my locale. I did not like the way in which a lot of cases went unhandled fairly and how criminals went scot-free. Since I had passion for languages, I decided to take lessons in French as I had passion for that language. I hoped to go France someday so that I could meet the native speakers of the same. At this time, my parents hooped that I would study Law, but I had to follow my dream. However, they supported me throughout my studies and even bought me a car on my graduation day. I went to work as a company assistant for a European company and ended up in the same company for two years.  Ultimately, I started working with advocates for a while, what gave ,e experience in research on criminology related cases. I have a wide experience in criminal related cases, having been in court to listen to the best lawyers in the country argue facts out. It was time I called it day. After working for the two decades, it was time for me to quit the legal field and venture into new challenges. I was at this tender age eager to learn what life in a relationship meant. I looked around at the kind of friends I had put and could not find anyone suitable to live with or maybe I was too choosy and very particular. I lost a good number of the buddies I had. They thought I was becoming selfish and was not considerate. The relationship that was initially cordial was now strained. Despite feeling lonely and deserted, I was determined to meet the love of my life. Night clubs, church, cinema halls were my target for getting a good wife. Luckily in the year 2001, I met Laura, the love of my life. With her I have four kids, two girls and two boys. Three years on, life became too tough for us, though Laura and I were determined to tackle the challenges. At times, our day jobs could not sustain our lifestyle but we manage to acquire loans that sustained our family. At one time I even opted to quit my job so as I be my own boss but nothing seemed to be positive on our side. Laura always motivated me to push forward in my job, which was a major encouragement for my young family and I. despite these challenges, our friends were jealous of our relationship as they wondered how we would stick together with the challenges facing us. Five years on, life was to be on the rocks for us as Laura became too tired of the kind of lifestyle we led. It is at this time that we had to endure challenge after challenge. Afterwards we had to divorce. My wife could not stand me. She always argued that she had tolerated too much to wait for her life to fade away as her youth did. We parted ways and she was given custody of the kids though we still have a perfect relationship with my children. Despite all these, I am now the managing director of XYZ Company, a paper manufacturing company, which I started with my little savings and grants from non governmental organizations. Life is looking up on my side, though I do not plan to reunite with Laura especially after the hard time she put me through. She nonetheless hopes to reunite our family someday. 4.0. Structure and language The use of structure and language determiners the kind of autobiography an author compiles. Additionally, the structure and language is also useful in conveying the exact message to the readers. From the structure and language used in my autobiography, I aim at telling the events that have ensued in my life since my early days. I used characters that are interesting and real. From the work, I explained what they did in my life, said and how I interacted with them throughout my life. Through my characterization, I was also able to reveal my personality through explaining what I said and what I think about other characters in my life. I also described my life’s setting well, especially different places I visited and events that I encountered. This I did to ensure that my details are objective and anyone could prove them incase they doubted my story. This is so as most autobiographies seem too blown up to believe the compilations by the authors. My autobiography also took a chronological order. With this I was able to explain how events occurred- from my life as a child to adulthood. The story also took my own viewpoint which helped me explain the events to the readers through my own experience. My thoughts, opinions, feelings and beliefs can be reflected clearly. From the structure and language of my autobiography, I purposed to make sense of the occurrences in my life and to communicate vital statements about my life and times. I also aimed at crediting all the individuals that have contribute greatly to my life. Through the use of humor, I reduced the seriousness of the story and made it livelier. This humor also explained that I expected the unexpected from life’s situations despite the seriousness of life. I also used clear descriptions that appealed to the senses of the reader. From the use of descriptive details, it was easy to explain my voices, explain my feelings and what I saw and how I interpreted the same. Lastly, I did not hesitate to take a strong conclusion in my work. This was with the intend of making sure that my readers clearly relate withy m y work from the onset to the end. I also used this conclusion so that my readers could easily take an easy stand on what my life was like especially regarding my weak points and strengths. References Angelou, M., 2012. The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou. London: Random House Publishing Group. Blair, T., 2011. A Journey: My Political Life. New York: Vintage Books Delafield, C., 2009. Womens Diaries as Narrative in the Nineteenth-century Novel. New York: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd Gairdner, J., 2008. The Paston Letters 5: 1422-1509. London: Lightning Source Incorporated. Guralnick, P., 2012. Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley. Boston: Little Brown. Jolly, M., 2013. Encyclopedia of Life Writing: Autobiographical and Biographical Forms. London: Routledge. Malcolm, X., 2001. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. London: Penguin Books by arrangement with Hutchinson of London. Pepys, S. 2010. The Diary of Samuel Pepys from 1659 to 1669. New York: MobileReference. Read More