As you read a varity of text you may be intrigued by memoirs. For the written task 1, memoirs work very well. You may decide to write the memoirs of a character from a literary work that you read for Part 3 or 4. You may also come across a memoir or autobiographical piece on the Paper 1 exam. For these reasons, it is good to familiarize yourself with the conventions of memoir writing. Here are two samples of memoirs, several discussion quesiton and a list of defining characteristics.

Defining characteristics

Memoirs are easily confused with autobiographies. While all memoirs are autobiographical, not all autobiographies are memoirs. Memoirs are reflections upon one's life, including the life lessons that can be gleaned from a section of one's life. They are story-like and anecdotal, while autobiographies are the retelling of one's own history. Here are several characteristics that you will want to consider when analyzing or writing memoirs. Try to find these same four elements in the memoir of George Orwell below. 

Memoir

Voice - In memoirs, we as readers are looking over the story teller's shoulder. They retell events directly to us, that is to say that that memoirs are usually told in direct narration.	We hear thoughts that only the protagonist and the reader are allowed to hear. When Angelou writes 'whater that was,' we are meant to laugh, as we are placed in the mind of her when she was seventeen-years old.
Hindsight wisdom - In memoirs, authors usually look back on the events of their life once they are wiser. This hindsight wisdom is part of the narrative voice.	Angelou says 'it was aweful to think the devil gave me that lie,' which is a judgment made from a vantage point that is removed from the moment. She can comment and interpret how events unfolded.
Dialogue - Since a memoir is told as a story, characters are given their own voice. There is direct speech. Dialogue makes the story come to life and allow the reader to experience it first-hand.	Again, we have the impression that we are looking over the shoulder and witnessing the author's life as it unfold before her.
Anecdotal - Memoirs are usually the retelling of several larger anecdotes.	The author tells us how significant moments help shaped her, Since these events were so influential, we want to know more about them.

  Memoir worksheet as downloadable PDF. 

Sample memoir

Discussion questions

1. What similes and metaphors are used in this short extract? How do they contribute to the characterization of the main character and of the owner of the Creole Cafe?

   'a lie as soft as melting butter' 'a small white picket fence semicircled in her mouth' 'doubt hung on the edges of her questions.' The description of the lie as melted butter gives a sense of the ease with which the words were said, flowing softly, without hesitation or resistance, the way melted butter moves in a pan or is sliced through and spread. It also suggests a psychological ease at lying to get what she wants, and needs. Not knowing how to cook is not going to be an obstacle to her getting a decent job, and she lies to get her foot in the door. Learning how to cook Creole is another problem she will have to face when the time comes. The description of the other woman's teeth as a small white picket fence gives a physical sense of neatness and the width of her smile. We see that she is pleased through the fact that the smile reveals a semicircle of whiteness. In the description of the woman's initial feelings as to Maya's suitability for the job, the abstract emotion of doubt is given a physical presence that hangs on the edges of questions, which are also attributed a physicality that gives them edges. This metaphorical transformation emphasizes the proprietress's feelings, and the writer's keen perception of her concerns.

   

2. How does dialogue contrast with Angelou's comments about herself?

   Angelou reveals that she is lying, determined to get the job, and aware that she is using the other woman's religious beliefs to manipulate her into trusting her. The brief comments she makes about the sentences she is pronouncing out loud show the reader that she is in control of the situation, but aware of the unsteady moral ground she has to walk on in order to get what she wants.

3. What characteristics does this extract reveal about Angelou?

   The reader learns that Angelou is seventeen, almost six feet tall, and seems older than she actually is. Her responses show that she is resourceful, quick-witted and willing to take risks.

4. What details contribute to a sense of time and place?

   75 dollars a week for a six day job puts the extract somewhere in the past, but in the 1900s. References to cooking Creole and dollars as currency place the extract in the United States, but it is difficult to determine whether the cafe is located in Creole country, or whether that is simply the kind of food offered. The proprietress's dropping of the verb in 'You a good Christian' might suggest a black person's colloquial form of speech.

Sample memoir

Such, Such Were the Joys
George Orwell
1947

When I arrived to report myself, Flip was doing something or other at the long shiny table in the ante-room to the study. Her uneasy eyes searched me as I went past. In the study the Headmaster, nicknamed Sambo, was waiting. Sambo was a round-shouldered, curiously oafish-looking man, not large but shambling in gait, with a chubby face which was like that of an overgrown baby, and which was capable of good humour. He knew, of course, why I had been sent to him, and had already taken a bone-handled riding-crop out of the cupboard, but it was part of the punishmnet of reporting yourself that you had to proclaim your offence with your own lips. When I had said my say, he read me a short but pompous lecture, then seized me by the scruff of the neck, twisted me over and began beating me with the riding-crop. He had a habit of continuing his lecture while he flogged you, and I remember the words 'you dir-ty lit-tle boy' keeping time with the blows. The beating did not hurt (perhaps, as it was the first time, he was not hitting me very hard), and I walked out feeling very much better. The fact that the beating had not hurt was a sort of victory and partially wiped out the shame of the bed-wetting. I was even incautious enough to wear a grin on my face. Some small boys were hanging about in the passage outside the door of the ante-room.

    'D'you get the cane?'

    'It didn't hurt,' I said proudly.

    Flip had heard everything. Instantly her voice came screaming after me:

    'Come here! Come here this instant! What was that you said?'

Discussion questions

1. Why is the young Orwell reporting to the Headmaster?

   He has wet his bed, which is viewed as purposefully disrespectful and disgusting behavior.

2. What impression of the adults do the physical descriptions of them imply?

   The character named Flip has 'uneasy eyes' , which give a sense of mistrust or unease. She is also very perceptive and quick to react, as she immediately screams after Orwell as she eavesdrops on his conversation with the other small boys in the hallway. The headmaster Sambo is given a more thorough physical description. He has round shoulders, a chubby face and resembles a baby. This doesn't inspire much respect, and contrasts with his role and his action of beating the boys to punish them. Neither adult is portrayed in a positive light.

3. What does the phrase 'I walked out feeling very much better' suggest about the writer's attitude towards events?

   He shares the adults' feeling that wetting his bed is a punishable offense, and that he deserves to be beaten. He is probably also relieved to have the punishment behind him. The fact that it didn't hurt very much is a pleasant surprise.

4. How does the boy's reaction reveal his lack of experience?

   He wears a grin and proudly announces that the beating didn't hurt within earshot of an adult. Both his expression and his words show that he doesn't realize that the adults believe the punishment must hurt and cause suffering if it is to be successful deterrent to the crime. By outwardly showing the opposite, young Orwell shows that he doesn't realize that at least pretending to accept the punishment is part of the power game. He therefore will receive a second, much harder beating, so that he has nothing to smile about.

5. Where do you see evidence of the four 'characteristics of memoirs'?

Further study

Here are three more autobiographical text that you may want to consider studying for further understanding:

• Goodbye to All That - Robert Graves autobiography, published in 1929

• The Autobiography of Mark Twain, by Samuel Clemens, published posthumously in 1924

• The Autobiography of Maclom X, published in 1965