Prose Non-Fiction

Prose non-fiction includes real-world texts such as:

1. Memoirs and autobiographies
2. Biographies
3. Essays
4. Speeches
5. Articles and opinion pieces
6. Travel writing
7. Letters

These texts aim to inform, persuade, reflect, or express personal experience, and are typically written in continuous prose without fictional elements.

Key Features to Look For

Purpose and Context

Ask:

1. Why was this written?
2. What is the author trying to achieve?
3. What broader context (social, political, personal) influences the piece?

Look for:

1. Calls to action
2. Personal reflections
3. Historical or cultural references

Narrative Voice and Tone

1. First-person voice (e.g. memoirs) vs. third-person (e.g. biographies)
2. Formal, informal, reflective, critical, nostalgic, humorous?
3. How does tone evolve over the course of the text?

Structure and Form

1. Linear or non-linear narrative?
2. Use of anecdotes, fragments, lists, repetition?
3. Are there shifts in time, tone, or focus?

4. Language and Stylistic Devices

Watch for:

1. Figurative language (metaphors, similes, personification)
2. Imagery (visual, sensory)
3. Syntax and diction (sentence length, emotive or rhetorical language)
4. Rhetorical devices (triadic structure, anaphora, rhetorical questions)

Characterisation and Perspective

1. How are people or ideas presented?
2. Bias, subjectivity, or reliability of the narrator?
3. How does the narrator reflect on others or themselves?

How to Analyse a Prose Non-Fiction Text

Prose Non-Fiction Model Answer

Text Extract: Between Words (Memoir Style)

I remember the day I stepped off the plane in London, clutching the strap of my bag like it was the only stable thing in my life. The air felt different—colder, thinner—as if the atmosphere itself was warning me: you’re not home anymore. My mother, walking slightly ahead, didn’t look back to see if I was still following. I don’t blame her. She had enough weight to carry, starting over with two children and no certainty. She had aged ten years on that single flight, though I don't think she realised. Or maybe she did, and that was why she couldn’t bear to look back.