Rationale
Most of my students understand the basic concept of biography but have not learned to think of it as a lens through which to interpret a text. Biography is useful in that it is directly linked to literature by the use of rhetorical strategies and narrative tactics in order to create a meaningful story about someone's life. More particularly Hermione Lee's Biography: A Very Short Introduction proposes two major metaphors for biography: autopsy (the examination of the human life as an object) and the contrasting image portrait (the capture of existence). Despite the disparity, they share a commonality — the investigation of an individual as subject matter. 1 Lee defines biography as the story of one person told by another. Students need to learn that biography is not a mere accounting of someone's life in written form; rather, it functions as a narrative form that can be represented through a multitude of media. 2
The creation of this unit comes from a variety of teacher and student needs. As a teacher, I plan to use this unit towards the end of the year. Traditionally, seniors take the AP English Literature exam the first full week of May. At that point in the year, it is hard to capture the cooperative nature of a high school senior. Many times they are checked out and don't value the class after they have taken the test. For me, this unit comes from the need to create something of high interest for my students that will still focus on skills students need as they graduate and attend college. This unit is my last attempt to get my students to recognize patterns between texts, read a variety of sources critically, be able to cite them, create a rational workable thesis, and defend it using well-researched documents by the end of their high school careers. By providing historical context for the biography and a variety of primary sources for the biographical subject, this unit can be the basis for deep, critical analysis.
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