MEMOIR
Definition of Memoir: A memoir is a piece of autobiographical writing, usually shorter in nature than a comprehensive autobiography. The memoir, especially as it is being used in publishing today, often tries to capture certain highlights or meaningful moments in one's past, often including a contemplation of the meaning of that event at the time of the writing of the memoir. The memoir may be more emotional and concerned with capturing particular scenes, or a series of events, rather than documenting every fact of a person's life. For example, Homer Hickam, Jr. has written several memoirs about his life, including October Sky (formerly Rocket Boys) and The Coalwood Way. Both cover his high school days in Coalwood, West Virginia. They are full-length books, but the scope of time is brief compared to Hickam's entire life and all the events of his life.
PURPOSE of Assignment: Analysis of memoirs allows readers to learn about history through the extraordinary, and sometimes ordinary, lives of people throughout time. Readers are better able to understand the broad themes of a time period when they understand the complex life of one person. This assignment encourages you to consider how one person can affect or be affected by a movement, event, or issue. Through this activity, you will extend your understanding of history and the people who shaped it. This assignment helps to make the entire time period make more sense and reminds us that history does not exist in a vacuum. The objective of this assignment is to encourage an in-depth analysis of a specific time period through the careful reading and contextualization of an eyewitness account. This is NOT a book report. In other words, you must do more than simply describe the contents of the memoir or relate the experiences of the author. In essence, this assignment is an essay based on a document produced by historical actors (as opposed to by historians). The goal is to employ your chosen book as an historical source – to use it as evidence for an historical argument. You may provide a broad assessment of the entire book (discussing, for instance, whether it adds something substantial to our knowledge of the time period described), if you like, but you can also focus in on one aspect. All essays must contain a clearly stated and appropriate thesis, and must avoid simplistic generalizations. Your thesis must address the memoir directly. If you write a general historical essay that simply cites the memoir from time to time then you have missed the point of the assignment, and this will be reflected in your grade.
You should focus on the accomplishments, historical significance, and lasting effects of your chosen figure, in addition to examining how this person reflected the time in which he/she lived and what issues or causes this person would be working for today. After completing the reading, you will reflect on this person's life and create a written connection that describes what you learned about your figure. Completed pieces of writing should demonstrate your knowledge of a given time period by describing how a person reflected the time period in which he/she lived. You are not just “summing up” a person’s life; you are using critical thinking skills to discover connections between the past and the present. You should utilize higher level thinking skills to determine how an individual impacted the time in which he/she lived.
Part II - Your Personal Memoir
Inkspell is a website that specializes in the Memoir. http://www.inkspell.homestead.com/memoir.html