Purpose

To Inform
One aspect of the purpose of the author’s memoir is to inform her readers of the hardships of having a loved one diagnosed with Alzheimer’s so that her readers can use her story as inspiration or motivation to keep going through your own personal struggles or a friend or family member that suffers from illness. Ultimately when faced with such a deeply impacting situation like how Sarah had with her mother having Alzheimer’s, you can either give up or push yourself to keep going through hard times. Sarah and her family pushed themselves despite how difficult it must have been, and that is truly inspiring. It is also very probable that the author would like to inform others of how to deal with this debilitating disease, and offers sort of a support system in seeing through the eyes of someone who had to care for a loved one that had Alzheimer’s, it gives insight to other people that may be going through similar situations; so that they may know better how to go about adjusting their lifestyle to accommodate this disease.

To Entertain
Another purpose of the author’s writing is to entertain; her writing is not just a sullen story of Alzheimer’s and the struggle of dealing with it, it’s also an entertaining story of a family who despite their shortcomings still persevere and continue to have a happy, loving family. There are many times in the author’s memoir where it’s quite comical to see how quirky the family can be: from Hannah’s moments of drama to Mariam’s eccentric sisters and their antics throughout the memoir it is nothing short of amusing to read. It’s possible that the author likes to incorporate such humorous aspects into her writing to help diffuse the sadness and realism of how debilitating it is to have to deal with Alzheimer’s.

To Explain
One of the most important purpose’s to the author’s writing is to explain Alzheimer’s so that her readers can better handle similar situations, and to explain her story so that others can relate to and appreciate her memoir. This memoir acts almost like a biography of not only Mariam’s dealings with Alzheimer’s but also of her family’s; the author explains in detail what Mariam was like before being affected by the disease, the process of seeing many different doctors and specialists to see what the issue could be, being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and then the aftermath of dealing with the disease leading up to the evident unfortunate death of Mariam. The way the author writes she puts these events in chronological order and explains different events throughout the timeline and how her family persevered. Without the in depth explanations this memoir would not be as memorable or so full of knowledge that can be transferred to the author’s readers; it explains a world in which small differences and struggles do not seem to be as significant when they are overshadowed by such a tragedy, and it really explains how such travesties can be overcame.