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, near the end of 1998, Martin feels that things are beginning to disintegrate in his family. His father’s paycheck is never enough, and his father is starting to get drunk more often.
At the end of the school semester, Martin is scheduled to take an important exam, which costs one Zimbabwean dollar. On the day of the exam, however, neither Martin’s father nor his mother has the money. Fortunately, Martin’s friend Nyasha is able to give him the money. Martin takes the test and once again places number one. He wants to tell Caitlin, but it’s getting harder to put together money for stamps.
For the first time, Martin faces the prospect of not being able to get ahead in school. The costs of education—and particularly the barriers for students from impoverished areas—will be a major focus of the story, and Martin’s troubles will only continue to compound, even as he reaches new academic heights in school.
Themes
Martin’s brother Simba begins beating up other kids at school to take their money or bring him food. Martin overhears Martin’s father and Martin’s mother fighting about money. The next morning at school, Martin and several other students are kicked out of school because their families can’t afford tuition. Martin wants to get back to school so that he can go on to university. He worries about how he’ll ever contact Caitlin again.
Like Martin’s father, who drinks in bad times, Martin’s brother Simba also has a bad reaction to the stress of poverty. The fact that Martin, a promising student, is kicked out of school is shocking for someone like Caitlin, who lives in a country where public education is mandatory. While this could be seen as a criticism of the Zimbabwean school system, it is perhaps on a deeper level about the difficult choices that institutions have to make when they are under financial pressure.
Themes
