Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Me Before You, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Ambition and Achievement
Love and Sacrifice
Quality of Life
Fitness
Summary
Analysis
2007. Will Traynor comes out of the shower to find his girlfriend, Lissa (Alicia), still in bed. She tries to convince him to plan a more relaxing holiday (vacation) rather than the thrill-filled adventures he usually plans. Will just laughs, kisses Lissa goodbye, and leaves the house checking his messages on his blackberry. Lissa calls after him that he needs to turn his blackberry off at dinner tonight.
Will’s dominant character trait is his ambition, seen in his desire for adventure and his attachment to work. Even with Lissa’s prodding, Will has trouble putting aside work for other things. His blackberry is never far from his hand, showing his commitment to his job.
Themes
With little difficulty, Will manages to stop thinking about how sexy Lissa looked in bed and focuses on the legal problems that happened over night at his office. The security guard of his building tells Will that it is raining, and Will decides not to take his motorcycle today. Will waves off the security guard’s offer to call him a cab and walks out into the rain.
At this point, it seems that Will’s preoccupation with work damages his personal relationships. Yet though Will may be a thrill-seeker, he is not needlessly reckless. He agrees to leaves his motorcycle home in the rain.
Themes
As Will leaves his apartment building, his best friend and co-worker, Rupert, calls about a deal from New York that has to go through immediately. Will promises to be into the office in ten minutes and distractedly walks out into traffic to hail a cab. At that moment, another motorcyclist comes screaming down the street. The cyclist hits Will and Will drops his blackberry, which shatters. Will hears an explosion and shouts before falling unconscious.
Aside from letting work obligations get in the way of his relationship with Lissa, Will also lets work distract him from his personal health and safety. The accident is not Will’s fault, but it might not have happened if Will had paid attention to his immediate surroundings rather than his work. As Will’s blackberry shatters, Will’s high-powered job and active life metaphorically shatter as well.
Themes
