An example of an autobiographical essay/personal
narrative
[Written by a student in the Labour Studies program, used with permission]
My name is Carlo, and I was born in June, 1958, in Italy. Our family, made up of my mother,
father, and a brother, emigrated to Noranda, Quebec, when I was five years old. I encountered
my first, but not last, taste of racism when kids in the neighbourhood laughed at my poor
command of English. As fast as I could I learned not only English, but French as well. I became
trilingual, speaking fluent French and English, as well as Italian. In the process, I made new
friends from a lot of different cultural backgrounds.
We then moved to Toronto, Ontario, where my Dad got work in a rubber factory. From my earliest
days, I knew our family had to struggle for every penny. My Mom baked pizza which my brother
sold by the slice, door to door. I caddied at the local golf courses and brought home all the money
that I made. I hated it when other kids made fun of working people, like garbage collectors, who
cleaned up trash for a living.
When I was in grade six, I was ill in hospital for two months with a kidney infection, and it
changed my whole life. I seriously took up playing guitar. I began to do photography, and joined
the audiovisual club. I discovered I was artistic with an interest in graphic art, although I didn’t
always agree with the kind of art assignments the teacher gave us. However, I had no idea what
to do after high school graduation. Thinking electonics was the wave of the future, I enrolled in
and graduated with a diploma from George Brown College in Instrumentation Technology. I was
hired on by Ontario Hydro as an apprentice.
Life was magical for a single guy in Toronto at this time. I made quite a bit of money. I enjoyed
meeting and socializing with many new friends from a variety of different cultures. During this
