Falling Leaves and Bossypants- Comparison and Contrast

After contemplating the purpose of a memoir several things came to mind. I believe it can serve to be cathartic for the writer as they can be set free by working through certain events in their life. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, I think a memoir can serve as a way to for the writer to tell their story in a vivid way that allows the readers to feel like they are living the experience and perhaps to learn a valuable lesson from their story. Therefore, I chose to analyze two memoirs they were Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie and “Salvation” by Langston Hughes. I concentrated on trying to determine the purpose of each piece in order to indicate what pivotal aspects were employed that either helped or hindered them in achieving that purpose.

In “How to Write a Memoir” William Zinsser gives very detailed and important advice to writers interested in writing a memoir. He gives the specific advice of “Be yourself,” “Speak Freely,” and “Think Small” (Zinsser, 2, 4, 6). These tips advise writers to not only think about what they want to say in their story but also how they want to tell their story. Many memoir authors choose to follow this advice and write their story using these points, but many do not. In the memoir “A Summer Life”, Gary Soto follows Zinsser’s writing advice through his use of writing from the point of view of a young child, speaking freely about his early life events, and writing about his life in small structure chapters.

One significant autobiography that I have discovered is Adeline Yen Mah’s Chinese Cinderella. Mah shares the incessant struggles of growing up with a family that detested her and how she dealt with them. Her mother died as she was giving birth to Adeline; in turn, she was viewed as a cursed child. As a matter of fact, reading helped Mah cope with these particular problems for the duration her life; from her love of reading, Mah decided that becoming a writer would be her ultimate goal. In her story, she remarked “I read because I have to. It drives everything else from my mind. It lets me escape to find other worlds,” (Mah). This young girl was capable of pursuing her dreams through difficult times; as a result, the pursuit of reaching my goals has become feasible.

Of all the forms of literature, the most interesting might be the fairytales, or the science fiction thriller about robots. However, there lacks the sense of truth, in a way blocking the reader from true connection with the story. Memoir is real, memoir is true, and memoir can range from any end of the ocean in structure and theme.

Imagine a memoir with skillfully alternating chapters between two characters that have distinct differences. It 's what sets James McBride 's chronicle from your average, everyday book as this story as he packs a healthy amount of content such as issues of race, religion, and identity into one paperback. Published in February 1998, it maintained the New York Times bestseller list for over 2 Years, won the 1997 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Literary Excellence, was an ALA Notable Book of the Year, and has sold more than 1.5 million copies. It has been published in 16 languages and in more than 20 countries. It is an autobiography that sort of strays away from the common formula, however it still retains the core welcoming feeling you get when you can relate to the characters. McBride recognizes what a wonder his mother is when she raised 12 kids and gets her to open her secretive past.

A good story is always structured with details that are easy to follow while intriguing readers with reality and emotions. Edwidge Danticat’s memoir has proven her ability to use descriptions that allows the text and the readers to connect. Through her writing, she is able to get the reader involved in her situation, so that it is as if they are experiencing it too. Adding on, Danticat cleverly writes each type of description in a way that makes them distinct from each other. This connects the two which adds to her message. Descriptions bring life to her story and stresses the real events that happened to her and her family which displays her message effectively. That being said, without objective and subjective descriptions, any piece

Memoirs, and writing in general, reveal a truth about the author. Oftentimes, said truth is revealed intentionally. Universal truths such as struggle, endurance, and agony help authors influence their audiences. These truths cause the readers to become cognizant of and appreciate the authors. It is a writer’s duty to write from the heart—to write about the good and bad sides of a story. Annie Dillard’s An American Childhood fails to use universal truths and instead presents a very superficial presentation of its author’s life. J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis display the unconventional upbringing of Vance in order to give the audience a better understanding of the writer. Pure honesty

In the reading, “Writing About Yourself: The Memoir” by William Zinsser, the author uses organization, examples, and direct advice to develop the purpose and message of the selection. The message of this piece is that writing about oneself and delving into what has made the author who they are gives the writing individuality and distinction. Like the message, the purpose is to encourage writers to write about themselves and what has shaped them without hesitation. To begin with, the author uses a pattern of organization where he introduces an excerpt of a memoir by stating a quality that makes this memoir exemplary. After the excerpt, he will further comment on what makes this memoir memorable for him. For example, the author states, “One secret of the art [the memoir] is detail… a sound or smell—as long as it played a

The purpose of this research paper is to provide a critical biography on Jennifer Egan. I choose to write about Egan because she always changes her themes and genres up. Her literary work significantly impacts society by giving her readers real-life situations but she either makes it comical or uses some type of literary device to keep her audience entertained. To me, this impact is interesting and makes me want to read more of her novels and short stories.

I have read many books over the course of this school year. Choosing Yes Please by Amy Poehler was purely based on the fact that in Bossypants, Poehler was mentioned frequently. I was curious about how one woman would write about the other. However, after reading the novel, I noticed that there are plenty of similarities between Poehler’s book and some of the other books that I have read for this class. The construction of essays is reminiscent of Sedaris’ novels Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day. And one can’t deny the similarity between Tina Fey’s Bossypants and Yes Please, which are both about the women working through their career in comedy and giving advice to people of the world. Although her book has many elements in common with other

I read an article from The Kansas City Star called “What is feminism? Miss USA answer raises questions” by Kate Irby. After reading this article I found that the memoir I also read during this summer called “Bossypants” has many similarities and differences. I really enjoyed Kate’s article and how she talked about Miss USA Kara McCullough answer about feminism. Kara got asked a question asking “ Do you consider yourself a feminists ?” a reporter answered for her and said “Yes you do, absolutely you do”. She did not agree. McCullough said “So as a woman scientist in the government, I’ve liked to lately transpose the word feminism to equalism,”. She also said “women are equal as men when it comes to opportunity in the workplace”. I truly and sincerely believe that’s true because women should be equal with men and men should be equal with women.

In many ways, Buddy Willard is a dangerous figure in Esther’s life had she been naive and accepting of his propositions. These dangerous traits, however, simply encompass the ideologies which many men believe to be true, particularly in this time period. Such traits are evident in the following events: his ridicule of her poetry, his implication that she should give up poetry when they have a baby and when he unsolicitedly reveals his genitals to Esther, asking if she’s ever seen a man. Though these actions seem disconnected from the masculine gender roles, they are almost direct reflections of the societal norms for men. Creative careers such as poetry tend to receive disdain and contempt from society because they engage with sensitivity which is often associated with femininity. Buddy’s dismissal of Esther’s career aspirations is a reflection of the common male opinion that creative work is unrespectable. Had Esther been naive, she might’ve agreed with Buddy and conformed to the female expectations that she must stay home with a baby. The danger that such ideology poses to Esther’s growth and conceptions about the world around her is evident in her reflection:

The one thing I noticed about Mary McCarthy’s writing style that I admired as a writer, was how descriptive she was. As a writer, I have the tendency to go off and explain scenes, and situations in my stories rather than showing them to readers. McCarthy’s techniques however, provided me with just enough details for me to unfold these things on my own and understand the overall picture. I think this works well because the narrator in McCarthy’s memoir was honest, and up front not only about the conflict, but how they felt as well.

The mother-daughter relationship is often scrutinized, publicized, and capitalized on. Whether from tell-all biographies, to humorous sit-coms, or private therapy sessions, this particular relationship dynamic gives some of the most emotion-activating memories. When female authors reflect and write about their relationships with their mothers, they have a tendency to taint their reflections with the opinions they have as an adult, reviewing the actions of their mother when they were young. These opinions set the tone of the story independently and in conjunction with the relationship itself and manifest in creative literary styles that weave an even more intricate story. Case in point, when reviewing the two literary works “I Stand Here

Letter to My Daughter, by Maya Angelou, is an intriguing memoir written with series of autobiographical essays, delivering many powerful messages. Maya Angelou chooses to break her book up in a series of chapters, which feel more like little stories. It is interesting that she chooses not to write any of her stories in a specific order; such as chronologically, but in different tones to capture her meaning of that specific story or chapter. Maya Angelou ends each chapter with what seems to be talking directly to “her daughter” or the audience. This gives the feel of the closure and familiarity with the author, as you continue to read and piece together Maya’s puzzle.