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Part 1: Caitlin, January 1998
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in I Will Always Write Back, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Kindness and Generosity
Friendship
Family
Education
Summary
Analysis
In Zimbabwe, the dollar bill that Caitlin sends to Martin fascinated Martin’s whole family. Martin’s mother believes Caitlin must be very wealthy, and Martin’s father takes the dollar to have it appraised and finds it is worth over 20 Zimbabwe dollars. Martin volunteers his dollar to cover the cost of groceries for the family, and though his mother is reluctant at first, eventually they exchange the dollar. They buy so much food it feels like Christmas in April.
This scene highlights one of the biggest gaps between Martin and Caitlin: a dollar bill that she sends as a little souvenir ends up being enough to feed his whole family. By necessity, many aspects of Martin and Caitlin’s relationship are asymmetrical, but this doesn’t necessarily diminish the impact of Caitlin’s generosity or of Martin’s gratitude.
Themes
Martin thanks Caitlin for the dollar in his next letter. He decides not to include a Zimbabwe dollar, since it would equal a full day of sadza. Instead, he makes a promise that he knows he can keep: that he’ll always write back, no matter what.
