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
Later, Lara Jean wakes up to Kitty standing by her bed, informing her that there’s ice cream on the sheets. Kitty says that Daddy wants to know what Lara Jean wants for dinner. Realizing that Daddy might’ve gotten rid of the hatbox, Lara Jean leaps up and runs downstairs. But when she asks Daddy about the box, he's confused—though he acknowledges it could’ve gone to Goodwill. Lara Jean falls dramatically to the floor and refuses to let Daddy pull her up. He suggests they look around the house again, and he offers to check Goodwill tomorrow. When he asks what was in the box, Lara Jean says it was “only everything.” He suggests an ice cream sundae before dinner, but Lara Jean doesn’t answer. She doesn’t want to think about Josh reading the letter.
Daddy’s response to Lara Jean asking about the hatbox shows again how distant he is—he doesn’t seem to grasp just how important the hatbox is to Lara Jean. Offering to make her a sundae when Lara Jean has already done that for herself also shows that while Lara Jean may be struggling to act mature and in control right now, she’s nevertheless doing what her family has taught her to do when she’s upset. She doesn’t need Daddy to sooth her anymore, in other words—she can do that herself.
Themes
As Lara Jean does dishes after dinner, Josh rings the doorbell and asks Daddy if he can speak to Laura Jean. Panicking, Lara Jean races out the back door and into the neighbor’s treehouse. She, Chris, Genevieve, and their other friends used to hang out there years ago. Lara Jean waits until she sees Josh go back to his house and then heads home.
Again, it’s perhaps immature for Lara Jean to run away from Josh—especially since she runs to a treehouse where she spent a lot of time as a kid. It’s more comfortable for her to revert to the past than it is to face her difficult and embarrassing present situation.
Themes
