Biography is the story of someones life as told by someone else.
The features and functions of
a biography are about a persons life, character, temperament, his social situation, his experiences and things he did. It is about famous people. It is written by someone else to give information about those famous people. Autobiography is the story of ones life as told by ones. The features and function of an autobiography is it emphasizes on the subjects development; it is about well-known people; it is written by the person himself; and it isto get other people to know writers life Derived from three Greek words meaning self, life, and write, autobiography is a style of writing that has been around nearly as long as history has been recorded. Yet autobiography was not classified as a genre within itself until the late eighteenth century. Robert Southey coined the term in 1809 to describe the work of a Portuguese poet (Anderson 1, 7; Berryman 71). In his book, Inside Out, E. Stuart Bates offers a functional definition of autobiography as a narrative of the past of a person by the person concerned (Bates 2). That definition, however, is too broad for some literary critics. Many, such as Lejeune, a scholar on autobiography, wish to define the genre more narrowly. Linda Anderson cites Lejeunes definition of autobiography as [a] retrospective prose narrative produced by a real person concerning his own existence, focusing on his individual life, in particular on the development of his personality (Anderson 2). He also thinks that the work must implicitly state itself to be an autobiography to be included within the genre (Anderson 3). Other scholars, Bates, for example, do not think that there are any limitations or minimums on how much of a life must be revealed for it to be classified as autobiography. Many factual accounts, though not intended to be an autobiography per se, can be categorized as such because they contain a self-revealed personality, after thorough reconsideration (Bates 5). Cataloging autobiographies are further complicated because there are some that are translations and some that are edited. Maupassant even wrote an autobiography of his future (Bates 2-6). Despite disagreements concerning how inclusive the category of autobiography should be, there are characteristics that are common to the majority of autobiographical works (Berryman 71). These features are the grammatical perspective of the work, the identity of the self, and self-reflection and introspection. Most autobiographies are written from the first person singular perspective. This is fitting because autobiography is usually a story one tells about oneself. It would not naturally follow then that the writer would recount his or her past from a second or third person perspective. Jean Quigley confirms this point in her book The Grammar of Autobiography by saying that As soon as we are asked about ourselves, to tell our autobiography, we start to tell stories. We tell what happened, what we said, what we did (Quigley 144). The author, the narrator, and the protagonist must share a common identity for the work to be considered an autobiography (Anderson 3). This common identity could be similar, but is not identical. The self that the author constructs becomes a character within the story that may not be a completely factual representation of the authors actual past self (Anderson 3; Porter and Wolf 4-5; Quigley 106-7). From the autobiography story of Abe Lincoln Grows Up by Carl Sandburg, it presents the first twenty years of Lincoln's life, from his birth in a log cabin, through the migrations of the Lincoln family in search for a better life. It is about a boy born and raised in poverty, with many hardships and very little formal education, struggles to make something of him. Although the story ends just as Lincoln leaves home, all readers know that he is destined to become one of the best known and most loved presidents of the United States. Sandburg portrays Lincoln as being influenced by his environment. By starting with Lincolns paternal grandparents, Sandburg shows Lincoln as a reflection of his grandfather, who was also named Abraham Lincoln. Both were struck with wander-lust, one wanting to be where he could look from his cabin to the horizons on all sidesand the land all his own and the other wanting to escape from adversity. Lincolns grandparents were educated enough to write their own names, but his mother had to make her mark while his father signed his name. Tom Lincoln was always respected in whatever community he lived. He is described as not exactly lazy; he was sort of independent, and liked to be where he wasnt interfered with. One employer of Abraham Lincoln described him in a similar manner: I say he was awful lazy. He would laugh and talkcrack his jokes and tell stories all the time; didnt love work half as much as his pay. Despite his dislike of work, Lincoln was constantly running errands and helping his father. Lincoln is pictured as being curious and always in search of education. As a young boy, he is described as hungry to understand the meanings of words. Young Lincoln and his sister walked eighteen miles a day to school. As Lincoln frequently told his friends, The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man wholl get me a book I am not read. Lincoln would read anything and everything he could. As from this book, I would like to conclude that it is ssuitable for children age 9-11. This autobiography offers an outstanding depiction of American frontier living, describing the wilderness, the farms, and the settlements which the children can relate to or learn something new which it also portrays emotion of joys and sorrow of a child (character Abe Lincoln). Activity can be done to this is to draw their do choral reading in class Following Lincoln down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers on a flatboat to New Orleans, the reader also glimpses the world beyond the frontier. As the result, children are curious to learn new things in life and if grown-ups pave the path of learning more smoothly by using attractive stories, the stories which are not against human clean nature but convey a moral or real good experience of the past. In conclusion, children have an innate love of stories. Stories create magic and a sense of wonder at the world. Stories teach us about life, about ourselves and about others. Storytelling is a unique way for students to develop an understanding, respect and appreciation for other cultures, and can promote a positive attitude to people from different lands, races and religions