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Part 3: Martin, January 2000
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 Pennsylvania, Caitlin is relieved to finally hear from Martin in late January. Caitlin’s mom starts making calls at 4 a.m. (because of the time difference) to track down Martin’s school. Eventually, they write a letter to Martin’s headmaster asking about how to sponsor Martin’s education, then another letter to Martin letting him know they’ve contacted his headmaster.
As Caitlin and her mom get move invested in Martin’s life, they find that helping him gets increasingly complicated, as shown by the 4 a.m. long-distance phone call. Their experience shows that truly helping someone takes more than just generosity: it may also require persistence and ingenuity.
Themes
