Why does Jacob begin to keep a journal in the novel, When the English Fall?

Writing for Jacob was directly related to memories. He wrote in order to preserve his good memories, but then ended up being haunted by the terrible memories that he was immortalizing on the page. His uncle taught Jacob that it was prideful to write about his own life and his own thoughts, but Jacob felt that he needed to write. Jacob needed to write down the events of his day in order to fully understand them, and to be able to learn from them.