Text A: Charles Dickens , David Copperfield 1850, Text B: Twain, introduction of Chapters from my autobiography,1906. Document C: Magritte, Décalcomania 1966- How do writers/artists use their chosen medium to reveal their inner self?

An autobiography is a story about a person's life, written by that person. Both a biography and a portrait are the impetus for autobiographies and autoportraits as without a « bios » there is no « auto ».
Dickens writes a biography of one of his character but on a meta basis as it is very similar to Dicken’s personal history. In the extract he tells the story of how David Copperfield was born and his early life. Misery and bad luck are constant companions of Copperfield's life which is actually Dickens' one. The distance placed by the author by pretending to tell the biography of another is a way to reveal his inner self not as a poor little child raised in misery and stalked by misfortune but as a confirmed and successful author. Dickens distances his own self from his past self to reveal the true him, the author hidden behind Copperfield.
Twain writes an extended memoir in which he plays on words and on the reader's comprehension of his work. He gives a self confident image of himself but the latter hides a deeper fear: the one of being forgotten by the public. The younger version of himself used to be a river boat pilot and here he is using his past experience, guiding us through his words and misleading the reader. "I like criticism but it must be my way" Twain's irony is wihtout boarders . He reveals his inner self between the lines of his work. Decalcomania by Magritte is at the cross roads between a portrait and an autoportrait. The title in itself is indicative of the artist plan of attack to his subject. His idea is to remain on the limit between his two realities. Indeed, the painting expresses the artsist’s intentions clearly: on one side we have the artist silhouette from behind. It is the one of Magritte an everyman, terrestial, anonymous, banal. On the other hand, we face a silhouette which is the cut out of the sky. It symbolizes Magritte as an artist, the sky is symbolic of infinity, inspiration, richness of imagination. The painting is particular because we are not facing the character who is represented as we expect in a portrait or autoportrait. This shows that the main point of an artist is not inside the representation but in the expression and Magritte reveals his inner self through expression.
With the three documents, we understand that the artist uses his chosen medium in a playfull way to reveal his inner self. We have to confront what he is saying to what he wants to say, confront the representation with the expression, to fully appreciate the totality of his character.