Voice
As the title suggests Williams speaks on voice both in an artistic sense and in general terms. For human beings, the goal to have a voice in the private or public sphere requires self-discovery, growth, or rediscovery. Williams’ self-discovery comes at a young age in her journey towards finding her voice which she hones over the subsequent years. She searches for her voice once again through the blank journals that her mother left behind according to custom. She deciphers the meaning in the silence and lack of words in a quest to rediscover her stance and opinions about life. From a feminist point of view, the author also highlights the suppression of the female voice in society. As such the mother’s silence is a metaphor of giving others a voice by choosing to withhold one’s words.
Womanhood
Raised in a Mormon family Williams strives to emphasize the legacies of women in her lineage. This memoir is not an exception since the focus is her mother’s battle with cancer and the journals she bequeathed her. In their culture, women are supposed to pass on their knowledge to their daughters through journals. In her case, the blankness of the journals is power and love for it allows her to rediscover her voice in the void. She also speaks of herself by concentrating on her struggles with physical health and artistic voice as an accomplished writer and activist. Williams delves into the concepts of womanhood in the olden days that seem lost in the present or simply non-existent. Therefore, the book becomes an homage to the women who came before, for their bravery, intellect, voice, and strength.
Nature
Williams focuses on how the human experience is attached to the natural world by exploring our relationship with nature. The lyrical prose relies on descriptions of the natural world to convey the ecological themes that constitute her works. As a conservationist, she dwells on protecting the ecosystem as much as the culture that is connected to it. She also references the late environmentalist Wangari Maathai who was a mentor and friend to her. Furthermore, she mentions the women in her family who had a connection to nature more than the modern woman. This adds to the idea that women were birds in the way their voices rejuvenated the natural world.
