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Chapter 33
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Summer I Turned Pretty, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Time and Change
Coming of Age and Selfishness
Puberty, Body Image, and Anxiety
Family, Romance, and Rules
Summary
Analysis
Belly is hanging out on the pool deck with Mom and Susannah. She announces that she and Cam are going to play mini golf later. This is a big deal for Belly, as she hasn’t been to Putt Putt since she got her first period there at age 13. It was a traumatic experience. Mom asks Belly to be home early so they can watch a movie together, and Susannah concurs. Belly agrees, though privately, she feels it should be expected that she’ll be out more often living her life—she’s “almost sixteen, practically an adult” after all.
Belly is perfectly happy with change when it’s convenient and desirable for her. It’s important for her to return to Putt Putt with Cam, and it makes her feel mature to have this life of her own now. But there are still times when she resents change, because it’s uncomfortable or otherwise undesirable. This begins to show that resisting change can be a normal impulse—Mom and Susannah seem to be wanting to recreate past summers by watching movies with Belly.
Themes
As Belly pretends to sleep, Mom and Susannah discuss that Conrad is “behaving like a little shit.” Mom tells Susannah it might be time to tell the boys, but Susannah insists on waiting until the end of the season. Belly knows that Conrad and Jeremiah already know about the divorce—and she almost wants to tell Susannah that the “perfect summers” of their childhoods are gone forever.
