Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Family, Responsibility, and Growing Up
Love and Fear
Social Structure, Reputation, and High School
Lies vs. Honesty
Summary
Analysis
A few days into the school year, Lara Jean is walking the track with Chris for gym class. She notices that Peter Kavinsky keeps looking at her. Finally, he runs over and asks to speak to Lara Jean privately. Chris stalks off, annoyed and curious. Then, Peter says quietly that he doesn’t have any STDs. Lara Jean is flabbergasted as Peter says, clearly furious, that he doesn’t always take the last slice of pizza like Laura Jean claims in her letter. Lara Jean did write Peter a letter years ago. She closes her eyes; this is a nightmare. When she opens her eyes, Peter is holding her letter in his hands.
It’s unclear how Peter got ahold of Lara Jean’s goodbye letter, given that she believed it was private and that he’d never see it. Now, he has—and Lara Jean suddenly has to deal with the ramifications. The fact that Peter decides to confront Lara Jean about the letter at all shows how caught up he is in his reputation. Lara Jean apparently wrote that Peter has STDs (likely to convince herself that he’s undesirable). And given that Peter is one of the most popular guys in school, he’s likely worried about how an accusation like this could affect his image.
Themes
Peter says the letter came in the mail yesterday and tries to talk about its contents, but Lara Jean feels ready to faint. She says she wrote the letter years ago and doesn’t remember what she said (this is a lie). Lara Jean snatches it away, shaking. Then, concerned, Peter says he didn’t mean to steal Lara Jean’s first kiss. Lara Jean laughs that it’s “ancient history” and races to the girls’ locker room. There, she reads the letter.
Lara Jean’s first thought when confronted with this situation is to lie—to her, this seems like the best way to escape embarrassment. Peter, though, starts to look more compassionate when he tries to address the accusation that he “stole” Lara Jean’s first kiss. But this, too, could also be in service of his reputation—he also doesn’t want others to think of him as predatory.
Themes
In the letter, Lara Jean writes that she refuses to call Peter by his last name. She asks if he knew she’d fall in love with him when he kissed her. He must’ve, because he thinks everyone loves him, and that’s what Lara Jean hates about him. She hates it because it’s true. Then, she lists his worst qualities, like taking the last piece of pizza and being too good at everything. She accuses him of kissing her even though he liked Genevieve and Genevieve liked him back. Lara Jean wanted her first kiss to feel special, but it didn’t. He must’ve kissed her to “do mind control” on her and make him seem beautiful and great.
In her letter, Lara Jean seems emotional and perhaps immature. This makes sense, given that she never expected Peter (or anyone else) to read this letter—she thought it was a safe space where she could let out all her emotions. Lara Jean also seems to take aim at the fact that Peter is popular at school. He seemingly has no qualms about stringing two girls along, he’s entitled, and he’s “too good” at things. These things could be true, or they could simply be false judgments that are rooted in jealousy.
Themes
Then, Lara Jean lists the reasons she likes Peter: he’s kind to the stinky kids, and he still sings in chorus. She liked him for seventh and eighth grade. It was hard hearing Genevieve talk about him all the time, so it was a relief when Genevieve moved. Now, at the end of eighth grade, Lara Jean is proud to be over Peter—she’s never going to love him again. If she ever kisses him again, she knows she won’t fall in love. Rather, she’ll catch an STD.
Lara Jean might resent Peter for his popularity, but she acknowledges that at least in some ways, he deserves to be so popular—he’s a genuinely nice kid, if a bit entitled. This shows that she knows him on a deeper level, which makes sense given that the two were part of the same friend group at this time. So, her assessment of him, while written in an emotional and immature tone, is possibly more balanced than it would be otherwise. Her comment that she’ll catch and STD from Peter, however, doesn’t seem to be based on fact—rather, it seems like a false accusation rooted in Lara Jean’s jealousy of Peter and Genevieve’s relationship.
Themes
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