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Chapter 45
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
Around Christmastime, Belly picks up the phone after midnight. It’s Conrad: he drove all night to Boston and wants to see Belly. Belly sees his car pull up outside, but she waits for Mom to go to bed before grabbing a hat and scarf and heading downstairs. She doesn’t leave Mom a note, as she’ll call home in the morning. Once she’s outside, Belly races for Conrad’s car and opens the door. She’s never seen him in the winter before. He gives her his fleece jacket, which doesn’t smell like cigarettes, so he must’ve quit. He then asks if she’s still coming. Belly says she is.
Conrad’s arrival in Boston signifies a huge shift in his relationship with Belly—they’ve never seen each other outside of the beach house in the summer. His arrival in the winter suggests that they’re now ready to take their relationship to the next step, bringing it outside the bounds of the beach house, where life is essentially stuck in time. Belly is now ready to move forward thanks to the lessons she learned at the house over the summer.
Themes
