Why do people write memoirs?
What power is there in telling our own stories?
Judging by memoirs' status as a standard part of an English curriculum, there clearly must be something that makes memoirs important and educational. Yet it takes few qualifications to write a story about something that happened to yourself. Perhaps people write memoirs to teach others a lesson the writer has learned through life, or to communicate one's point of view in a way to which others may relate.
When a person writes about an event, it usually is one of significance, for it to be remembered. Often the things that affect us most carry some sort of lesson that was useful. The lesson is valuable to one's own life, but if it is shared with others, it can reach even further. By telling other people the story, they can learn the same lesson without a similar bad experience. Some might say that people learn better through experience than when simply told. However, memoirs have the power to allow the reader to see the event, and resulting lesson, through the eyes of the writer; they experience the incident without it actually happening to them. These stories serve as a happy medium between rules and lectures from grown-ups and unfortunate experiences for everyone.
Similarly, a memoir can help other people understand a person's opinion or point of view. If a person tells the story of how they came to think or be something, then other people can sympathize better. As I wrote in an earlier post, people don't live in a vacuum; circumstances play a large role in the development of our personalities and beliefs. Unfortunately, it can be hard for others to see the past events that helped shape a person into the present individual. The power of a memoir is in how readers get a glimpse into a person's thoughts. They may not understand everything about a person– it's only a memoir, not a mind-reader or even an autobiography– but the snapshot received can still illuminate much about a person.
By the sharing of lives and lessons, we begin to see the people around us a bit more clearly than we would have otherwise. If these things weren't written down, then we would have to start over every generation, and we'd never make progress in sympathizing with each other. So, power to English class, I guess.
Judging by memoirs' status as a standard part of an English curriculum, there clearly must be something that makes memoirs important and educational. Yet it takes few qualifications to write a story about something that happened to yourself. Perhaps people write memoirs to teach others a lesson the writer has learned through life, or to communicate one's point of view in a way to which others may relate.
When a person writes about an event, it usually is one of significance, for it to be remembered. Often the things that affect us most carry some sort of lesson that was useful. The lesson is valuable to one's own life, but if it is shared with others, it can reach even further. By telling other people the story, they can learn the same lesson without a similar bad experience. Some might say that people learn better through experience than when simply told. However, memoirs have the power to allow the reader to see the event, and resulting lesson, through the eyes of the writer; they experience the incident without it actually happening to them. These stories serve as a happy medium between rules and lectures from grown-ups and unfortunate experiences for everyone.
Similarly, a memoir can help other people understand a person's opinion or point of view. If a person tells the story of how they came to think or be something, then other people can sympathize better. As I wrote in an earlier post, people don't live in a vacuum; circumstances play a large role in the development of our personalities and beliefs. Unfortunately, it can be hard for others to see the past events that helped shape a person into the present individual. The power of a memoir is in how readers get a glimpse into a person's thoughts. They may not understand everything about a person– it's only a memoir, not a mind-reader or even an autobiography– but the snapshot received can still illuminate much about a person.
By the sharing of lives and lessons, we begin to see the people around us a bit more clearly than we would have otherwise. If these things weren't written down, then we would have to start over every generation, and we'd never make progress in sympathizing with each other. So, power to English class, I guess.
4 comments:
jenny! i loved how you added that creative introduction to the blog! it really helped catch my attention! i agree with you when you said that people can learn from others experiences by reading memoirs. i liked your voice and insight that you put into this! good job jenny!
I love how you pointed out that people can learn a lesson by reading memoirs, so that hopefully they can avoid that situation themselves. Also, I agree completely with how at the end you said without memoirs our society would have to start over every generation. If you think about where alot of our morals and life lessons come from, you can usually peg it back to a memoir. Your post was very thorough and interesting! Awesome job!
good job! I agree on what you said about how people learn through the mistakes/experiences of the author. In fact i wrote it in my own post. Oh and i also like the good intro.
I really like your ideas. I had not thought of how you get a batter perspective on someone's opinions. The first part of the blog wasn't strong though it sounded like you were asking others what they thought not saying that that was how you thought it was. I really liked your closing paragraph but i didn't think it was very tied in with the rest of entry.
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