Memoirs

I believe that people write memoirs for a variety of reasons. Memoirs help people express their feelings about events in their past and after writing the memoir, the author seems more aware of their feelings and has a clearer picture in their mind of what happened and how they reacted to it. If the story involves a sad event from their life, they are more easily able to ponder it and figure out what made them feel this way once they have their ideas down on paper. If it is a happy story, the author can remeber experiencing joy and figure out what to do to have more times like these. Overall, the author can look back and reflect about their life.

People tell memoirs not only for their own benefit, but also for that of others. Readers can learn valuable life skills and lessons once they've heard about someone else's experiences first hand. After reading the memoir of Richard Wright, I had a better understanding of the hardships African Amricans faced in the early part of the 20th century. I saw how resilient and hardworking Richard was, and through this I feel as though my outlook on certain aspects of my own life have improved. When I remember how Richard was deprived of food, I remeber how fortunate I am to have enough money for food and try not to complain to my mother about what she makes for dinner.

There is also a certain power that comes with writing our own stories. A person can describe the event as how they remember it as opposed to trying to write about something they did not experience. People can write their memoir to convey a certain message or theme to the audience, and I believe that this is a very influencial tool. They can include all aspects of the story that they believe are important, and omit less interesting parts. I think memoirs are a very fun and beneficial way to write stories.