What is the narrator's motivation and/or the author's purpose in writing American Chica?

American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood is a 2001 memoir written by Peruvian-American author and journalist Marie Arana. In it, Arana writes of her childhood and the time she spent on a sugar plantation in Peru. Arana's motivation for writing the book came from her experiences growing up as a child to a Peruvian father and an American mother; hence the title.
The main massage and purpose of the memoir is to show the readers how culture, ethnicity, and tradition can affect one's identity and how these notions can define and even limit a person. Arana explains how she could choose which cultural identity she could have depending on the situation and how it was simultaneously an easy and a hard thing to do. She also focuses on gender roles and the position of women in both Latinx and white culture.