Essays on Memoir

English definitions

A memoir essay describes a significant event in the past that one’s keeps in the memory. It is an essay that explains the event and its importance to the writer. It is important to provide details of the event in an engaging manner. After writing a memoir paper, one feels refreshed on the memories associated with the event on which the memoir is based.
A review paper involves writing both summary and an evaluation of the article or book in question. It involves selection of the article to be reviewed and then writing a summary followed by an Continue reading...

The connection and possible collaboration between oral history and reminiscence is the key issue for Joanna Bornat in Chapter 35. The main difference of the two fields, according to Bornat is its focus: “Where oral history tends to focus on the content of memory, what is perhaps more characteristic of reminiscence and life review is attention given to process and outcomes for participants”. The blending of these two can lead to surprising revelations about the historical and social context of the past that often break national barriers, as the author own experience has shown. Both practices, although different in Continue reading...

Book Review:

George Washington Bush stands as the 43rd president of the United States of America who led the country for two elective terms each consisting of four years. Like most of the other International players, he wrote a memoir after his constitutional term in the presidency office. The memoir captures his life, the presidency choices made and their consequences. The title of the memoir is Decision points. The book was launched on 9th November 2010 and in less than two months more than two million copies had been sold out, also at this time it topped on the New York Continue reading...

Kathleen Tamagawa grew up with an Irish American mother and a Japanese father. Her memoir “Holy Prayers in a Horse’s Ear” is about her experiences growing up and feeling like she never fit in. She believes being racially mixed is a difficult and complex. Her memoir was written in 1932, so maybe things have become better, but her conclusion was that different cultures and societies are not fully open to completely accepting other races. She explains the title of the book towards the end, when she asks the reader “and now I ask, what use are holy prayers, Continue reading...

Both books – “The Picture of Dorian Grey” by Oscar Wilde and “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” by Garcia Marquez – expose the human vices and human psychology, even though, they were written with the difference in a hundred years. Two great writers incarnated the idea of perverse and apathetic society as well as the destiny of a human within this society. Two different stories, two different persons’ tragedies both have fatal finals that do not lose the relevance and significance even nowadays.
The story of “The Picture of Dorian Grey” takes place in London of 1890s, during Wilde’s modern Continue reading...

The stops in time that Conroy includes in his memoir are important moments that occur only once or during a short period, but they have an effect on the rest of his life. While many some people are lucky enough to have several chances, for most people, there are some decisions that you can only make once, and once you do, you must live with the consequences of the decisions for the rest of your life. This is why Conroy refers to these events and decisions as moments in time, when time is actually stopped, and you live in Continue reading...

When I Was Puerto Rican is a memoir written by Esmeralda Santiago. She writes of her childhood life in Puerto Rico and how she lived in primordial conditions. Santiago paints a vivid picture of her early life which creates unforgettable memories of her childhood. The author talks about her life from her rural home in Puerto Rico to Brooklyn, and to her graduation in Harvard University. The memoir details the struggles and freedoms of a young woman in a foreign land with a foreign culture.
In her memoir, Santiago reveals the history of her life and her family in Continue reading...

No Easy Day: The Autobiography of a Navy SEAL

After having been published in 2012, the book titled No Easy Day: The Autobiography of a Navy SEAL by Mark Owen with co-author Kevin Maurer became a very popular work dedicated to the Navy Seals. Mark Owen was a member of the US Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU). He took part in the mission dedicated to the elimination of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, 2011. Moreover, Owen was a team leader of the unit responsible for the death of bin Laden. Kevin Maurer was involved in military special missions for nine years. So, the experience of both authors Continue reading...

Michael Herr stayed in Vietnam for 18 months as a war columnist for Esquire magazine. During his entire stay, he anticipated scripting a book about he had gone through and witnessed; Dispatches was the product. Just as the title suggests, Dispatches is fragmented, wavering back and forth in time, but is concentrated around twofold actions: the Battle of Khe Sanh and the Battle for Hue during the Tet Offensive. Herr decides to focus solely on the men who fought the war and the men who covered it as a reporters rather than focusing on the battle itself.
Herr undeniably Continue reading...

Introduction

12 Years a Slave is a devastating memoir released as a movie by Steve McQueen. The movie starts with “based on a true story” and the end credit shows the life of Solomon Northup and other assailants after they were freed. In between, the story shows the 12 years where Northup was kidnapped and served as a slave in South (“slate”). While most of the movie is based on the Book by Solomon Northup, there are still some facts which have been added to give the story a more glamorous look of a movie, some of them are discussed Continue reading...

Everyone suffers from guilt sometime in their life while some people suffer these bitter feelings for a lifetime. Guilt is a bothered conscience that occurs when a person commits an offense, crime or violates a moral standard or code. It is associated with the beliefs of what is right and wrong, moral and immoral. A person’s guilt not only affects his/her own life but also the lives of everyone involved. This particular emotion is the subject of my analysis in which I have chosen to evaluate the novel, “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” written by a Colombian writer, Continue reading...

The aim of this essay is to present you with the answer to one of the questions risen at the reading of the book ‘Dreams for my father: A Story of Race and Inheritance’. Barack Obama wrote this book which belongs to the kind of memoirs and became a bestseller in New York in 2004 – the year in which it was reissued – nine years before he began his Senate campaign.
This memoir is a book which tells its readers the autobiographic story of its writer. Barck Obama seems to have written this memoir in an effort to depict his Continue reading...

PROCESS

In completing this paper I drew heavily upon the on line version of the Memoirs of John Quincy Adams as available in a digital format from Open Library . Although the plain text available there is easier to read, being that it was scanned in and not completely proofread I confirmed any direct quotations by referring back to a text version Memoirs of John Quincy as edited by Charles Francis Adams. I relied upon this text because John Quincy Adams’s son, Charles Francis Adams sets forth such high standards for himself in the introduction as is cited in Addendum Continue reading...

Book Review: Rez Life by David Treuer

This review of Rez Life by David Treuer focuses much on its substance as a model piece of cultural protection of Indians living in reservations in the US. Victimization and involvement of Indians in criminal activities have emerged due to lack of protection within their reservations and the consequence negative influence coming from mainstream US. At the same time, the ambiguity expressed by Treuer in the last part of the story could possibly signify a practical response to the problems raised in the review. Continue reading...

In the book “Island of the Damned: A Marine at War in the Pacific” by R.V. Burgin a firsthand account of the war through the eyes of a soldier. The novel is the memoir of Romus Burgin, who served in the Marines as a mortar man. R.V. Burgin describes both the losses and victories of war in a poignant fashion.
Throughout his time in the service, Burgin was part of the 1st Marine Division in Melbourne, Australia. There he met many other veterans that he developed a kinship with. In Australia, he also fell in love with a young Continue reading...

First of all, the idea of using non-pharmacological approaches to deal with cases of dementia is noble. However, the assertions that are made in this article are based on inadequate research. There is limited literature coverage regarding the topic because minimal research has been done in the area. This means that this article is based on limited data and data analysis. For any research methodology to be credible, researchers have to widely analyze patterns and trends using large amounts of data. The presence of limited literature coverage over the success of reminiscence therapy creates makes the research more vulnerable Continue reading...

Going Rogue: An American Story is a memoir written by Sarah Palin offering a sharp focus on the political life of Sarah Palin. The book offers a clear perception of Palin’s take on the John McCain campaigns, challenges, divergence in ideologies in the team as she gunned for one of the topmost national offices in America. The former Alaska governor comes out open on various accusations that had been leveled on her by campaign-mates, the fourth estate and the general public(Whetsell,5). The name “Going Rogue” is derived from the phrase coined by McCain political advisers who Continue reading...

Princess Yekaterina Romanovna Vorontstova-Dashkova or as she is better known, Princess Dashkova, was the closest friend of the Empress Catherine the Great of Russia. In 1759 she married Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Daskov and went to live with him in Moscow. After his death in 1764 she dedicated herself to politics, her children and to literature which she had loved from an early age.
Although she as a close friend of the Empress, they did not always tend to get along very well. More often than not, she disliked the men Catherine courted. Her manners left a lot to be Continue reading...

Many veterans have written war memoirs in recent times in which they narrate their own personal combat adventures in a very straightforward manner. Although many of these soldiers-turned-authors shy away from emphasizing on the mental toll of war, we all know that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in the past ten years have taken a tremendous toll on the soldiers and their families. Thus, what sets Brian Castner’s amazing memoir, “The Long Walk: A Story Of War And The Life That Follows,” apart is the fact that he does not flinch when taking a look at postwar Continue reading...

Writing the first essay on memoirs helped me develop reflective thinking techniques and put it into writing. The memoir essay is a part of one’s past and reflecting on the things that happened in the past helped me build on my reflective memory skills to help me write a good memoir. Reflective writing technique is something I had not done before because most of the writing I did was based on research and case studies. This was a new experience and gave me a chance to put my memory into use by making thinking about experiences and putting Continue reading...

Introduction

The book; A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is a true story by Ishmael Beah recording the accounts of more than a decade of civic conflict in Sierra Leone. The book is a report of how war is in the eyes of the eyes of a child who has been drugged and armed and then put send to fight in many conflicts across the world. although child soldiers have been covered by journalists and novelists have continuously tried to create stories out of the life of child soldiers, Ishmael Beah’s memoir provides a first hand Continue reading...

Introduction

Women have been displayed in fiction novels to have influential characters that change the course of the narrative. Even when they are not the protagonist, the role they play gives them the ability to give the story a new meaning and even change the original perception that people had in predicting how the story will end. In this discussion, we shall be looking at the role of female characters as we focus on three books, chronicle of a death foretold by Gabriel Garcia, Bluest eye by Toni Morrison and Metamorphosis by Franz kafka.
In the chronicle of death foretold, Continue reading...

Friends! Everyone needs friends. Friends are an important part of our life. Without friends, life can be pretty lonely. Friends come in all shapes and sizes. You might have a tall friend or a fat friend, or maybe a hilarious friend or a supportive friend. I’ve had my fair share of friends too. I’ve had big friends and small ones. I’ve learned a lot from my friends, and many a time they have entertained me too. Our friends are supposed to walk beside us, and my friends have always been my side, stashed in my school Continue reading...

Through My Eyes

Through My Eyes is a motivational memoir written by Tim Tebow in conjunction with Nathan Whitaker. It was first published on 31/05/2011 by the Harper Publishing House. The 272 page book is about the turbulent and blissful life experiences of Tim. It hence, intensively covers his birth, youthful and adult life especially his aspirations for a successful career in football( Carlson, N., 2011). He therefore, uses his own personal experiences to sensitize the readers to be so industrious and use the available opportunities to make the society better.

Question two

In this question, I will write a 10 day diary for Continue reading...

Book Review - Persepolis

In the graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, the reader follows the author through an autobiographical look at her own life, though interestingly, this is done through the use of the comic book format. Growing up in Iran, Satrapi had to remain innocent and dignified, despite the horrors that were happening around her. Due to the enigmatic, strange, quirky and often outrageous directions her life had taken her, Satrapi decided to use the comic book format in order to tell her childhood story. This lent it a heightened, visually intriguing spin that turned the horrific and out-of-control world of Continue reading...

Abstract:

This is a review of the book Monster – The Autobiography of an LA Gang member in which the principal character Monster Cody relates his experiences as part of a gang in Los Angeles in the 1970’s and 80’s

Summary:

The book is a classic firsthand account of a gang member called ‘Monster Cody’ who was active in of the notorious black gangs in Los Angeles. He was active in the gang from the tender age of 11 to 27 and some of the experiences he recounts are pretty harrowing. Naturally some of the narration is rather gruesome Continue reading...

People say that hindsight is 20/20; it is only after looking back at an event that we fully understand what happened and why it happened. However, there are many events in our lives that, even when we go over them repeatedly in our heads, we never fully comprehend their full effect on the way we think and feel. At the same time, we feel that an indelible mark on our identities, and recognize that they would be in our minds forever. For me, this is no less true than the first time I was beaten up at school.

Continue reading...

The greatest discovery ever made on our planet is here. At Jade news, we have a young woman who is an anthropologist working at Jade University. She is here to give us some discoveries about the planet earth. There are quite a lot of interesting things that she has to say about the planet, but her main caution is that the earth is not a safe place for us to visit.
I am Melotica. Some few days ago when looking through my window, I saw a newspaper that supposedly came from earth. Its contents made me grow weary of Continue reading...

The greatest discovery ever made on our planet is here. At Jade news, we have a young woman who is an anthropologist working at Jade University. She is here to give us some discoveries about the planet earth. There are quite a lot of interesting things that she has to say about the planet, but her main caution is that the earth is not a safe place for us to visit.
I am Melotica. Some few days ago when looking through my window, I saw a newspaper that supposedly came from earth. Its contents made me grow weary of Continue reading...

Maps: (image 5)

The maps are to be taken while the research projects and for the reason of certain places of the human beings and civilizations. These are believed to be the main source of information as these were created under particular conditions and the cultures. The maps are made under specific factors, weather and the perceptions; these are gathered by the historians as needed by the researchers. Maps are used for the understanding of the situation at a particular point of time and under particular conditions and polishes. The maps are the grounds and the first hand knowledge of the person Continue reading...

- Sexuality as Main Agency of Change
Higher Ground, the film and the memoir, both depict sexuality as the main agency of change in the story. The developments and the conflicts are centered on this subject, with the protagonist heavily influenced by her sexual experiences in majority of her life decisions.
In the film, the reason for Corrine’s marriage are a hasty solution to her unexpected pregnancy. The pregnancy arose from her sexual curiosity, which reflects her usual curiosity towards all aspects of her life. The marriage and incidences that follow are the main reason that Corrine becomes Continue reading...

Introduction

As engraved on the tombstone "A Soldier of the Revolution', Joseph Plumb Martin was indeed an ordinary soldier who died amidst poverty in 1850. He was an ordinary person who served bravely in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He is best known for his memoir titled 'A Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier', which was first published anonymously in 1830. In this memoir, he gave a vivid account of all that transpired in the battlefield in front of his eyes. His account of war is devoid of any embellishment of Continue reading...

The greatest discovery ever made on our planet is here. At Jade news, we have a young woman who is ready to give us some discoveries about the planet earth. According to her story, the people on earth have very different way of life from us in Jade. Her story, however, suggests that the earth is not a place to visit. Let's hear the discoveries of this young girl.
I am Melotica. Some few days ago when looking through my window, I saw a newspaper that supposedly came from earth. Its contents made me grow weary of the planet Continue reading...

Analysis of Culture Cell KU812F with Three Protocols

Abstract
Protein analysis for cancer cell research has been found to be extremely reliable. The culture cell KU812F (chronicle myeloid leukemia cell line) was used for this laboratory. Globin gene switching was observed by evaluating the gene expression in the cells. Gene expression and protein folding were provoked. Gene expression is the process of transcribing DNA to cDNA and then used qPCR to study gene expression. cDNA was translated into mRNA which in turn is translated into a protein. mRNA concentration was analyzed. The three protocols were Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR), Enzyme-Linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA), and Continue reading...

[ESL 35]
[Spring Quarter 2013]
[Essay 2 – (first/second) draft]
[Due date]
[Title of the paper]
Information technologies as well as any digital device were invented with a thought of usefulness to human-being. All of them give people an easy access to communication and information. People are able to contact each other all over the world without the need to travel. Moreover, the innovations brought up by information technologies made it possible to learn a lot given the abundance of information available on the internet. Many years ago, people were in need to spend long hours in the library, reading Continue reading...

Part One: Biography

Theatre has been in existence for decades passing on concrete messages to the audience for purposes of entertainment. Behind the scene, there exist significant art directors who make this possible. One such individual is Mikhael Aleksandrovich Chekhov, a Russian American actor, director, author and theatre practitioner majoring on stage acting. Michael Chekhov was born on 29th August 1891. His father was called Alexander Chekhov while his mother was called Natlya Golden. Michael Chekhov had two wives namely Olga Chekhov and Ksenya Ziller. Olga Chekhov who was also an actor was the first wife to Michael Chekhov. He later married Continue reading...

Abstract

Having investigated the current status of The Chronicle Gazette and the issues that are affecting the industry currently, it is of importance to analyze the findings in a report to enable the decision-makers and the managers of the firm to make evidence-based strategies to improve and manage high performance. Some of the predicaments and challenges that consequently lead to the decline in the sales made by the firm are identifiable and this report helps in identifying these problems, proposing effective measures and devising appropriate plan effective in re-inventing the industry. This report therefore provides a detailed analysis of some Continue reading...

“Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave” is a memoir of Frederick Douglas. Douglas was an African American who born as a slave and spent his early life in slavery. Douglas, in his memoir, describes his own life, experiences, sufferings and life of other slaves in a very realistic manner. This narrative was published in 1845 and has been revised several times due to its popularity. This paper proposes to discuss Frederick Douglass and analyses his memoir and several other related aspects.
Frederick Douglas talks about his date of birth and about his parents in First Continue reading...

Invasion of Panama

Introduction
The invasion of Panama occurred in 1989 when the United States of America invaded the place. The invasion of Panama occurred during the presidency of George H. W. Bush Senior. The reason for the invasion was because the President of Panama by then called Manuel Noriega was claimed to be a dictator and was known for drug trafficking. The government of US wanted to bring Noriega to justice. Noriega became the head of the National Guard in 1983 thus becoming a powerful person in Panama. The fact that he had this position of power he was then able Continue reading...

Alexander Graham Bell led a successful life as a teacher, a scientist and also an inventor. He dedicated his life to ensure that mankind lived better and comfortable life. He is, however, known around the world for having invented the first telephone yet he also made other inventions including having greatly assisted in improving the methods and practices of educating the deaf (Osborne 1).
Bell’s invention of the telephone was not a coincidence. He had spent years driven to come up with a way to teach the deaf to talk. His grandfather, Alexander Bell, also made progress and Continue reading...