Autobiography

FINAL PART I — Minimum Two Pages — [“You” means “Us”]
 
The title of this course in the LEH description is (or should be) “Me, Myself and YOU: Memoir & Autobiography.”  My thinking when I created this course was to find a way to narrow down the countless memoirs and (probably less) numerous autobiographies available for consideration.  The “You” in the course title represents the reader as a member of Society at Large. 
So, is there something in each work that considers a subject important to a society beyond the individual author’s life?  For example, can the PERSONAL ISSUES addressed/described in the three main works we have read this Semester also be found in SOCIETY at large?  [This means of course that you would have determined the one big issue for each memoir – meaning that each memoir has its own big issue.] Write a Paper that describes the main issue in each personal work that you believe exists on a larger scale in society and that needs to be “fixed.”  Yours or your classmates’ previous DB posts or my “lectures” will help you in this regard – just remember to cite name or date of post or in my cast name of lecture.  This part of the Assignment relates to our three main books: Copeland, Woodfox and Murray.    20 Points
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FINAL PART II — Minimum One-Two Pages: The Real YOU
 
PRETEND YOU ARE GOING TO WRITE YOUR MEMOIR.  How would you begin it?  The way Hilton Als began his in the Chapter One that we read at the beginning of the Semester? 
 
Maybe you are more comfortable with how Misty Copeland starts HER book.  
 
Albert Woodfox jumps right into a description of teenagehood behavior that unjustly led him to an adult life in prison; and finally,
 
Liz Murray starts her tale with the early memory of being a watchful five year old. 
 
We also have our Confessions masters – Jean Jacques Rousseau and Saint Augustine if you wish to look at their first pages.
 
Write 1-2 pages that will serve as the Opening of your imaginary Memoir copying the style of one of the above authors.  Also come up with a descriptive title that you think captures the theme of your own story – a theme that will be evident in your Opening.  Cite which author’s beginning you decided to emulate.