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Part 6: Caitlin, February 2003
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, Martin finds that the place where he’s been assigned to teach is even more rural than he expected. He meets a fellow teacher who’s a few years older and stays with him.
While Martin himself comes from a relatively rural area, his experience as a teacher shows that there are others in Zimbabwe who live in even more remote conditions.
Themes
At the school, Martin introduces himself and can tell the children are impressed by his story—they have never left their village. Martin gets to know his students and wants to be there for them. He is disappointed, however, to see that his salary isn’t being paid to his bank account, meaning he has to pay out of pocket to keep teaching there.
Martin gets a firsthand taste of how some of his own teachers must have felt. They all seemed like they wanted to help Martin, but when finances got in the way, they were unable to help him. Now that he’s in the same position, Martin realizes that he will have to do the same thing.
Themes
Ultimately, Martin makes the difficult decision that he has to leave the village in order to save money and be available for college admissions news. He is accepted at several universities, like Temple, but they don’t give him nearly enough funding.
Once again, lack of money proves to be Martin’s biggest obstacle to education. The acceptances he receives prove that U.S. universities believe he could succeed, but none are willing to offer him enough money to actually give him that opportunity.
Themes
