Finding a Theme
Entry from December 11, 2019
“Over the past few days, I’ve been transcribing letters into text- picking and choosing bits of letters to include into the draft. Deleting chunks that are irrelevant to the story or information that has no contextual ties to the general reader. Hacking through her letters is like hiking through Guam jungle with a machete. I keep comparing my childhood with my dad’s and it fills up a lot of my daily life. I also keep having these thoughts about Uncle Stephen, like if he were still alive what would he be doing? I think he’d work in a mechanic shop. Or maybe he would’ve moved to the states for mechanical engineering school or something. I think it would be neat if I had a short glossary in the back. It might be a good way to highlight the key takeaways from the text as well. I’ve decided I want to have an interview section in the back where I ask papa, aunty, and uncles questions. I have a general introduction but I suppose after adding in letters, I will start tackling the critical afterword. I’m at 27,000 words which amounts to approximately a 100 or 150 pg. book. My eyes are hurting from squinting at the screen…”
It’s odd coming back to these entries because of how far the book has progressed since then. I almost want to shout, “Get there faster!” and spoil the writing process. At this point, I was having difficulty with voice- who should tell the story and how it should be told. I was still trying to use my grandmother’s writing to do the work for me but the intent behind the writing was different. She was writing merely to report or share information to her father. I wanted to draw readers in and certainly wouldn’t be able to if I included a page and a half of the trials and tribulations of purchasing a very specific shade of drapes on Guam in ‘68. There was also a long rant on the lack of wicker furniture shipped to Guam if anyone is interested.
I decided that her shift in perspective would be one of the central themes of the book. After reading through all the letters, I tracked my grandmother’s perspective and saw a drastic change in how she explained the island and Chamorros. In the beginning, it was very much a ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ mentality. Western ideology with tones of ethnocentrism proved detrimental in noticing the nuances and richness of Chamorro culture. It blocked her view until 1972 or so, where there was a constant comparison to the life she’d left and the new one she’d gained. The time it took for things to be shipped, the slow service, the limited groceries, etc.
Most interesting was seeing her voice mature, her body age, and her children grow all through written word. I set out to capture this via scenes throughout the book.
