Memoir and Vocab Check for Understanding

Choose the best definition of memoir:

• A book of every memory the writer has about their life--basically the same thing as a diary

• A work that is about the writer's real experiences, but that uses literary elements and techniques so that it reads like a story

• A short, made up story with a fully developed theme

• A history of someone's life written by someone else

Who is the main character of a memoir?

• The writer

• A protagonist that the writer makes up

• The reader

• The writer's mom

What does it mean that memoirs are works of "literary nonfiction"?

• It's a made up story, but feels and sounds like it's real

• It's about the writer's real experiences, and sounds like an instruction manual

• It's about the writer's real experiences, but feels and sounds like literature (it uses literary devices and sounds like a story).

• It's unrealistic and takes place in a made-up world

What does it mean that events described in memoirs are "subjective"?

• All details mentioned in the story are objectively factually accurate

• They show the WRITER'S version of the truth (which may not always be completely factually accurate)

• The events in the story are complete made up

• Everyone mentioned in the memoir is interviewed so that everyone's side is shown fairly in the story

Memoirs MUST have...

• At least three characters

• A full account of every detail of the writer's life

• A fact check

• A theme and a purpose

What does it mean that the "pacing" of a memoir needs to be right?

• The story should quickly and accurately recount events of the writer's life

• The story shouldn't be told too fast or too slow, so that readers feel like they're reliving moments with the characters

• The story should be told very slowly, giving extreme details for every single event

• The story can't be longer than three pages

Choose the correct statement regarding context and background information in a memoir

• Memoirists have to include enough background information for readers to understand the context of events and characters

• Memoirists can't leave out any information about their lives

• Memoirists should not provide any context before telling their story so that the reader has more to figure out

• None of these are correct

Choose the correct statement about dialogue in memoirs

• There should never be any dialogue in memoirs

• All dialogue must be written in grammatically correct, formal English

• The dialogue should be written the way real people talk

• None of these are correct

What should readers have learned at the end of a memoir?

• Some kind of life lesson that applies beyond just the writer's experience (theme)

• Only an understanding of what the writer went through

• Exactly what happened in the writer's life

• How to use Pythagorean's Theorem

True or false: a memoir is the same thing as a diary

• True

• False