These Precious Days: Essays

In “Three Fathers,” Patchett describes how she sometimes felt unseen by her father, who didn’t think writing a viable profession, because “I was a writer and nothing else, and to miss seeing me as such was to miss me altogether” (15). What writing means for Patchett’s sense of self and identity is a third theme strongly present in several of the essays in this collection.

For instance, the single largest thread Patchett chooses to focus on in her relationships with her father and stepfather is how they have shaped her journey of becoming a writer. In addition to driving her to become a successful writer despite his disbelief, her father influences the morality in Patchett’s content through his editorial opinions. Though Patchett rarely gives in to these suggestions, she acknowledges that her father’s “moral code” nevertheless deeply impacted her and eventually influenced the kind of content she created while he was alive. How Patchett develops as a person and a writer are, thus, not inextricable from each other.

This phenomenon is further highlighted by Patchett’s typewriter in “How to Practice.” Patchett describes the “practice” as the shedding of material possessions, but the typewriter is not just any object—it is a representation of her identity, i.e., who she had hoped to become and who she presently was. Giving it away feels like giving away a part of herself, and so, even though she espouses letting go of excess, she is grateful when her husband offers his typewriter instead. Writing informs a huge part of Patchett’s sense of self and identity, and the different pieces of writing that Patchett writes and receives over time, housed in various nightstands over the years, comprise a fairly complete picture of Patchett.

Patchett also includes pieces on some of the literary influences in her life; besides her father, whom she credits in “Two More Things I Want to Say About My Father,” she discusses Snoopy and Eudora Welty. Juxtaposing an essay about a writing dog from the comics with one about a lauded Southern writer shows how deeply writing and literature have been a part of Patchett’s life. She found inspiration from a non-human character in a Sunday comic strip with the same ease as she has from the works of a celebrated writer like Welty. These pieces also show Patchett’s acumen as a reader. She describes reading Kate DiCamillo’s books, for instance, and approaches the experience not as a peer but as an admirer and lover of books.

Writing even lies at the heart of Patchett’s decision not to have children. She knows she does not have the energy to do both justice, and she stands firmly by this choice. This choice becomes an important topic of conversation throughout her life and is something that other people constantly judge her for. Patchett’s identity as a woman and writer becomes further entwined in the eyes of society as well, especially in the context of her childlessness. For Patchett’s part, she continually acknowledges the role writing plays in her life and in making sense of the world around her. As she asserts in the title essay, “Putting together a novel is essentially putting together the lives of strangers I’m coming to know. In some ways it’s not unlike putting together my own life” (239).