For my autobiography, I didn’t focus on specific events in my life and I didn’t get too personal. I also knew we needed an object included, so I chose an apartment as my object, but also as the center of my story.

I chose the apartment because it was one of the few things that remained unchanged while everything else was becoming different. The apartment had no eyes, but it witnessed everything that happened within its walls. I also didn’t really mention many people, or anyone specifically, in my story. That’s because I chose to focus more on the emotions, themes, and atmosphere that were experienced inside the apartment. I also chose to title it The Livable Place. 

After creating my timeline, I was trying to decide how I wanted to present the information. I knew I didn’t want to write something straightforward that was based directly on real events or specific people in my life. I wanted to write something more symbolic where themes like change, endurance, resilience, and stability could be portrayed.

Writing from the perspective of the apartment allowed me to do that because it could represent stability even when the people inside it were constantly changing. I also added details from my actual apartment into the story to give it a more personal feel instead of making it a generic apartment that could belong to anybody.

For example, I mentioned the scratched brown cabinets, the ripped-leather furniture, and the way the sun shines through the kitchen window during the summer as it sets. These details help the apartment feel lived in and real, which is why I think it was a good perspective to write from.

One of the main concepts in my autobiography is contrast. The apartment remains mostly unchanged throughout the years, but the people, relationships, emotions, and routines continue to change over time. People come and go, relationships shift, and emotions change, but the apartment remains standing in the middle of it all with the same structure it started with.

One section of my autobiography that I think captures this idea well is:

“The house learned that people were very good at pretending.

Years passed.

One person left.

Another arrived.

The number of people inside remained the same, but they were not the same people. The conversations changed. The relationships changed. The atmosphere changed.

The furniture grew older.

The clothes grew older.

The people grew older.

The house did not.

Every summer, the setting sun poured through the kitchen window and filled the room with gold rays. For a few minutes, the scratches, dents, and worn-out furniture seemed softer. The house looked warmer than it really was.

Then the sun disappeared, and reality took over as everything returned to normal.”

I think this section represents the overall message of the piece because it shows the contrast between the apartment staying the same and everything around it continuing to change.

By the end of the autobiography, I wanted the apartment to represent more than just a place to live. I wanted it to represent something that remained standing despite everything that happened inside it. The apartment is not perfect, beautiful, or even particularly comforting. In a way, it’s consistency of refusal to change is what makes it ultimately feel like a home.