Indeed, historical memory can be slippery in the best of circumstances, even immediately after an event has occurred, and what a child remembers and comprehends of an event is also debatable. Nonetheless, while Natural Destiny may be the result of understandable errors of memory and judgement coming 50 years after the event from someone who was a child at the time, the compounding of errors makes for challenging reading. Although the novel admirably captures the emotional strength, determination and cohesion of the Chamorro wartime community, its glaring factual errors undermine its utility as a representation of Guam’s wartime history. Conquered similarly captures the history of Chamorro suffering, fear, and sacrifice, although it does not attempt to introduce many exact details of historical events. Despite being set during the war and classifying itself as historical fiction, Conquered is ultimately a love story that uses the historical event primarily as an occasion to throw together its two main characters, an American Navy officer and a young Chamorro woman. Rather, the novel is more instructive in terms of addressing Chamorro cultural attitudes towards Americans and the military, and the author makes it clear from the start where her loyalties lie. Quinene begins her book with a dedication not only “To the survivors of WWII on Guam,” but also “To the military families who lost loved ones fighting for Guam during WWII; To the veterans and their families who have served Guam and the United States of America; To the men, women, and their families who still serve, protecting and defending Guam and the United States of America” (85). To them, Quinene states, “I thank you. We thank you” (85). In Conquered’s story of the 1944 biracial courtship between Jesi Taimanglo and Johan Landers during segregation-era America, notions of Chamorro gratitude to the US for its defeat of occupying Japanese forces are highlighted, but not in the usual terms of Chamorro men enlisting in the US Armed Services as a form of cultural reciprocity. Instead, the Islanders’ gratitude plays out as eagerness for their daughters to marry white men. Although some of the American characters in the novel expressed surprise at the interracial wedding, Johan explains that “The locals were so grateful they didn’t have any reservations” (2827). This story of American valor and heroism, accompanied by Chamorro gratitude, is a common narrative that can be read in most of Guam’s history books and other publications concerning World War II. The accuracy of this perspective, however, is highly problematic and has been called into question in recent years, although it does undoubtedly represent views held by some portion of the population.13
! 122 ・ 3rd Marianas History Conference 2017