Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Tell Me Three Things, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Blended Families
Intimacy and Growing Up
Wealth, Fitting In, and Bullying
Home
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
Jessie arrives at IHOP early and sits in the first booth so she can spot SN right away. She wonders if she’s dressed appropriately in her normal jeans and a T-shirt and thinks of how broken out her face is right now. Dri texts and assures Jessie that if Liam is SN, she should go for it. Dri asks multiple times if SN is there yet, a game that Jessie finds funny, until Liam appears across the restaurant. Jessie’s eyes fill with tears. With a smile, Liam slides in the booth and asks Jessie if he’d have dinner with him sometime. Jessie hears Ethan’s words telling her to say no in her head, but that was before she learned that SN is Liam.
Because Jessie so completely believes that Liam is SN, she can no longer take Ethan’s advice to heart. The intimacy of her conversations makes her far more willing to give Liam a chance, just as she was willing to give Caleb a chance. Again, this shows how powerful the intimacy that Jessie and SN cultivated is. It’s enough to make Jessie willing to go along with a guy she knows she doesn’t like.
Themes
Jessie focuses on her coffee, terrified and unsure of what to say. A shadow crosses the table and she briefly fears that Gem is here to beat her up, but it’s Ethan. Jessie, confused, thinks that this can’t be true—she wants to say to no to Liam, but he’s SN. Caleb appears suddenly behind Ethan and then smiles encouragingly at Liam. Jessie wonders if this is all a big joke and considers taking Dad up on his offer to move back to Chicago. Ethan tells Jessie she’s early and Liam angrily snaps at Ethan. Jessie remembers Dri saying there was band drama, and she remembers that Liam replaced Xander—That’s why Ethan hates Liam. Liam stands, ready to punch Ethan, but Ethan pulls out his phone. Jessie’s phone beeps; SN just messaged her that it’s him. Ethan is SN.
Though Jessie’s confusion is understandable, it makes far more sense that SN is Ethan. Unlike Caleb and Liam, Ethan has connected with Jessie in person in a way that’s close and intimate. He hasn’t simply brushed her off or chatted to her about band drama—he’s treated her like a real person, with interesting things to say. In the end, Jessie learns that it’s their equal role in the conversations that makes all of this work. While she’s been able to listen or not talk at all with Liam and Caleb, Ethan has given her the space to talk and share in a way that no other guy has.
Themes
Grinning, Ethan says that Oville had a meeting in the back and Liam happened to get to Jessie first when they finished. Liam looks more confused than angry and Jessie smiles at Ethan, now sitting across from her in the booth. Liam and Caleb leave. SN messages Jessie and asks if he can sit next to her. She tells Ethan he can. He immediately tucks her hair behind her ears. Several hours later, Jessie and Ethan are still talking and holding hands. She asks why he reached out to her over email. Ethan explains that his therapist suggested he write instead of talk and he’s anonymously emailed a few kids before, but never for as long as he emailed with Jessie. He also explains that the Batman shirt was Xander’s.
Ethan’s therapist as much as confirms that writing can be just as meaningful as talking to someone in person. In some situations, like Ethan and Jessie discovered, it can even lead to what looks to be a strong, fulfilling, romantic relationship. The fact that the Batman shirt was Xander’s speaks to where Ethan is in his grieving process. It’s still important to him to remember Xander in this very tangible way, every single day—and it likely makes Ethan feel like Xander is still a part of the family.
Themes
Jessie asks Ethan to tell her three things. He says he’s terrified of drugs, even Tylenol; he memorized The Waste Land just to impress Jessie; and his mom is in rehab, though he’s not optimistic about it. Jessie gives Ethan three things. She says she hoped that Ethan was SN and the possibility of Liam being SN almost made her cry. Ethan says that Liam isn’t awful, but Jessie says now he’ll go back to Gem and she’ll never be able to set Dri up with him. Jessie wonders what to say next. She thanks him for being her first friend and thinks that she feels like she’s exactly where she wants to be. She doesn’t have a third thing. Ethan says he has one for her: he’d like to kiss her. They kiss and it’s “poetry.”
Now that Jessie knows who SN is—and, importantly, he’s the person Jessie most wanted him to be—she can finally feel at home in Los Angeles. This makes it clear that home doesn’t just refer to a certain place. Rather, home has to do with the people one spends time with and loves—including those who are deceased. Jessie can still remember her mom, even here in Los Angeles, and Ethan can keep Xander alive by wearing his shirt. And both of them can move forward and take their relationship even deeper thanks to the foundation they developed through their messages.
Themes
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