Nonfiction Study: Memoirs & Tuesdays With Morrie

Nonfiction Study:Memoirs &Tuesdays With Morrie English I Dewalt WHS

Unit Objectives • Students will be able to define what is a memoir in nonfiction. • Students will apply knowledge of a memoir in nonfiction to the reading of Tuesdays With Morrie. • Students will apply knowledge of a memoir to create their own personal memoir. • Students will continue to study vocabulary to build their knowledge for the EOC Exam.

What Is a Memoir? • Autobiographical writing • Captures certain highlights or meaningful moments in one’s past • Contemplation of the meaning of that event at the time of the writing of the memoir • Much more emotional and connects the writer to someone or something that had and impact on their life

Characteristics of a Memoir • Focus on a brief period of time or series of related events • Narrative structure (storytelling elements like setting, plot, imager, characterization, foreshadowing/flashback, and irony and symbolism • Retrospective • Fictional quality • Higher emotional level/more personal reconstruction of the events and their impact

Stages of a Memoir • Generally, all memoirs follow the same sequence: • Introduction: Sets the scene • Description of a complication • Evaluation of the complication • Resolution of the complication • Conclusion: What the writer learned

Overview of a Memoir • An engaging title: hints at the overall meaning or “theme.” • An introduction with a “lead”: captures the reader’s interest or sets a scene. • A complication: a tension or conflict that must be resolved in some way by the end of the story. This tension or conflict can be between people’s values, beliefs, desires, or needs. It could be a conflict within the author as he or she moves from one life stage to another or discovers something previously unknown. Or it could be something new, challenging, discomforting, or frightening. • A plot: draws the reader forward as the memoir moves through a series of scenes or stages. • Intimacy between the narrator and the reader: allowing the writer to speak with readers in a personal on-on-one way. • Rich and vivid details: are not announced or answered explicitly, but that the narrator explores and reflects on with the reader.

Continued • A central theme or question: is rarely announced or answered explicitly, but that the narrator explores and reflects on with the reader. • A new understanding or revelation:presents a moment of growth, transformation, or clarity in the writer.

Tuesdays With morrie-Mitch Albom An old man, a young man, and life’s greatest lesson.

Mitch Albom • Mitch Albom was voted number-one sports columnist ten times by the Associated Press Sports Editors. • He is a writer for the Detroit Free Press. • Albom is not only a writer, but also a professional musician, radio personality, and has appeared on ESPN regularly. • Lives with his wife, Janine, in Michigan and continues to write. • Wrote Tuesdays With Morrie in regards to his relationship with his professor, Morrie Schwartz.

Morrie Schwartz • Born December 20, 1916 (NY); Died November 4, 1995 (MA). • Father (Charlie Schwartz) was a Russian immigrant who fled to escape the war and being forced to join the Russian Army. • Mother died when Morrie was 8 (We will read more about her in the text). • Professor of Sociology at Brandeis University. • Loved to dance, write, teach, and be around people. • Was diagnosed in 1994 of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), which led to his death a year later.

What Is ALS? • We discussed this earlier in nonfiction: • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis • Also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease • Disease causes muscle weakness due to degeneration of neurons in the brain. • Also affects breathing, speaking, swallowing, and other body movements that are controlled by muscles. • In about 2% of cases of ALS that runs in families, it is due to a defect in chromosome 21. • For the other 95-98% of cases, no cause of ALS is presently known. However, some studies are linking head trauma, military service, and participation in contact sports as links to the disease. • Other studies suggest causes are not of the physical type mentioned above, but due to chemicals ingested, electromagnetic field exposure, and electric shock. • There is no treatment today to cure someone of ALS.

Tuesdays With Morrie • Published in 1997 • Is rated one of the best-selling novels • Is a memoir of a person’s experience with a spiritual mentor who has since passed away. • Includes a journey back to the relationship between Mitch and Morrie and the ideals that the relationship embodied. • Is inspirational and thought-provoking • Text exemplifies the beauty of life (especially Morrie’s), but also the humility and honesty of man.

Themes • The rejection of popular culture in favor of self-created values • “Love each other or die” • Acceptance through detachment • “If you learn how to die, then you know how to live.”

Motifs • Motif= reoccuring dominant idea, such as a theme, in a work • The media • Reincarnation and • Renewal • Food

Symbols • Pink hibiscus plant • Morrie’s bed • Waves on the ocean • 1st Person Point of View Point of View

Nonfiction Study: Memoirs & Tuesdays With Morrie