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
The next morning, Lara Jean wakes up with a plan. All she has to do is avoid Josh forever. There’s also a chance that whoever mailed the letters didn’t mail Josh’s, and Lara Jean wants to be optimistic. At breakfast, Daddy promises to check Goodwill for the hatbox. Kitty asks what was in the box, but Lara Jean says that’s private. Then, Kitty asks if Lara Jean will be mad at Daddy forever if he can’t find the hatbox. She answers her own question: Lara Jean never holds grudges. Kitty and Daddy joke that the box contained berets and tease Lara Jean for leaving early. She’s taking the bus.
While humorous, Lara Jean’s insistence that she needs to avoid Josh forever could also read as immature. He’s her neighbor, classmate, and friend; it’ll be hard to ignore him forever, and it’s arguably unfair to do so given that he may not know why she’s avoiding him. Learning that Lara Jean never holds grudges offers some hope that she’ll be able to move forward from this situation without too much fuss.
Themes
