History

History was a central theme in the novel, as Austin not only recorded the history of his own life but also that of his ancestors. He used the information he learned about his ancestors to make connections between his life and the lives of those who came before him. Austin also took his role as a historian seriously. He strove to tell the truth and make his history free of conjectures and suppositions. In the end, he feared he might be subjecting those whom he writes about to failure as history tended to repeat itself despite the attempts of historians to avoid these repetitions.

Austin begins his story by noting that even though humans dutifully record their history, hoping future generations will learn from their mistakes, people seem to make the same stupid mistakes over and over again. Austin felt he was called as an amateur...