Children Literature: Similarities and Differences in Writing Forms

This essay delves into the similarities and differences between biographies and autobiographies, focusing on their application within children's literature. It highlights that both forms narrate a person's life but diverge in perspective and authorship. Biographies, often written by others, may include varied interpretations, while autobiographies, written by the subject, provide a personal and potentially biased account. The essay uses examples like Ruskin Bond's work to illustrate these points and presents two tables summarizing the key differences and similarities, covering aspects such as factual accuracy, viewpoint, and the possibility of multiple biographies versus the singular nature of an autobiography. The essay emphasizes the importance of understanding these distinctions for a comprehensive analysis of literary works.

Running head: CHILDREN LITERATURE
Children literature
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Similarities between biographies and autobiographies
Similarities between biographies and autobiographies
 Both autobiographies and biographies are the story of a person's life and
achievements. For instance, the biography of Ruskin Bond will comprise of the
facts and the events that he has witnessed in his life that is being witnessed by
others over time whereas the autobiography of Ruskin Bond will be the events and
facts that he will write by himself (Habermas and Köber 2015).
 Both provide information that is not fictional. The information in biography or
autobiographies are facts of the person’s life. However, in a biography often there can
be data that people may have assumed about the person they were. This generally
happens when the person is dead on whom the biography is written.
 Someone's eyes view events that took place in their life. The beliefs and views will color
their perceptions of the events that occur. It may be the person himself in the case of
autobiography or someone else in the case of biographies.
Table 1: Similarities between biographies and autobiographies
(Source: Created by the author)
Differences between biographies and autobiographies
Biographies Autobiographies
 Biographies are the detailed account
of a person’s life.
 It can be authorized or written
without the permission of the person
concerned. Thus, there is a chance
 The subject itself writes their
autobiographies. The auto means
self. Thus it is said an
autobiography.
 There is hardly any chance of

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of factual data or fictional characters
that may be present in the
biography.
 Information collected over a period
is included in a biography. The
information collected is from the
person who has witnessed the
person in real.
 It has a different outlook. For
instance, a biography of
Shakespeare will have a different
impact on the reader few may
assume him to be bisexual in
context with sonnet 18 where he
compared his friend with the
summer’s day. Whereas others may
consider him as the lover of the
“Dark lady”.
 There is no or hardly any reflection
in biographies.
 The purpose of a biography is to
inform or provide information about
the person's life on which the
biography is written.
 There can be several biographies
factual mistakes as the author
himself writes it. The data provided
will be true and not fictional (Pascal
2015). For instance, in Kushwant
Singh's autobiography, he
mentioned about his grandmother
and the bond that he shared with his
grandmother. This is a fact and there
can be nothing fictional.
 The information provided in an
autobiography is a fact and written
based on the memory that the writer
can recollect from his / her memory.
Hence, it provides an overall narrow
and biased perspective to the reader.
 The autobiographies are written as
the first person such as me, I, us,
him, and her.
 Autobiographies are written to
express the experience and
achievements of the narrator.
 Autobiographies are factual, thus,
there is no chance of a repetition of
autobiography (Josephson 2019).
There can be parts of the

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of a person. Such as there are
various poems, stories on the
biography of Wordsworth (Olney
2017).
 Biographies can be written while the
person is living or after the death of
the person.
autobiography.
 Autobiography cannot be written
after the death of the narrator as
he/she is the one who is writing the
autobiography.
Table 2: Differences between biographies and autobiographies
(Source: Created by the author)

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Reference list
Habermas, T. and Köber, C., 2015. Autobiographical reasoning in life narratives buffers the
effect of biographical disruptions in the sense of self-continuity. Memory, 23(5), pp.664-674.
Josephson, M., 2019. Edison: A biography. Plunkett Lake Press.
Olney, J., 2017. Metaphors of self: The meaning of autobiography (Vol. 4940). Princeton
University Press.
Pascal, R., 2015. Design and truth in autobiography. Routledge.