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
Lara Jean volunteered to bake six dozen cupcakes for the PTA sale at Kitty’s school. Margot used to bake brownies for the sale just so people would think Kitty’s family was involved. Lara Jean figured cupcakes would look better than brownies, but now she realizes Margot had the right idea—cupcakes are fussy and take forever. As she’s measuring flour, the doorbell rings. Kitty refuses to get it, so Lara Jean opens it. It’s Peter, and he laughs—she has flour on her face. He asks if Lara Jean read his note yesterday; they’re supposed to go to the game. Lara Jean says she can’t, since she has to finish the cupcakes.
Margot and Lara Jean’s reasoning for participating in the bake sale may explain why Lara Jean is so caught up in appearances: Margot clearly was, if she was concerned about making their family look involved. When Peter shows up, Lara Jean realizes that she’s going to have to make a choice as to where to show her loyalty: Peter, or her family. For now, at least, it’s more important to her to keep up family appearances than play along with the pretend relationship.
Themes
Peter brushes past Lara Jean, takes off his shoes, and says his mom is making Rice Krispies treats. Lara Jean suggests they go to the game next Friday as Peter remarks that the house is just like he remembers; he used their bathroom once when a bunch of kids were playing in the neighbor’s treehouse. Peter suggests that Lara Jean buy cupcakes, and when she refuses, he says Kitty should help—and he’s going to help too. They can go to the party after the game. Lara Jean didn’t read the note, so she didn’t know about the party, either.
Peter is trying to give Lara Jean a way to balance her familial obligations with her obligations to him, as his pretend girlfriend. But when Lara Jean admits that she didn’t read his note earlier, it shows that she hasn’t been so concerned with balancing these two things—she’s just been caught up in taking care of her family.
Themes
Lara Jean isn’t sure she can go to the party, and she’s not going to tell Peter that Daddy should be home soon to give permission. Peter groans that he needs Lara Jean—Genevieve hasn’t said anything, and she might bring her new boyfriend to the party. And he helped her out with Josh. He offers to help with the cupcakes, so Lara Jean finds him an apron. As he dumps butter into the mixing bowl, they discuss what Lara Jean does on Friday nights. She’s flustered and can’t keep count of her cups of flour. Peter tries to take the measuring cup, but he ends up dusting them both with flour. He laughs and calls Lara Jean a grandma.
Peter is still operating under the assumption that Genevieve is paying close attention and cares a lot that he’s dating Lara Jean. So, to him, it’s essential that they make an appearance at the party—he believes it’ll annoy Genevieve. But again, it’s hard to tell if Genevieve is spending any time worrying about Peter and Lara Jean’s relationship, so he could be worried for no reason. When Lara Jean gets so flustered during this conversation, it suggests she’s somewhat embarrassed that she’s spent so much time at home rather than out being social—especially now that she’s seen what other kids do on Fridays.
Themes
Lara Jean again tries to measure her flour as Peter asks why they don’t hang out anymore. Lara Jean fumbles that things changed in middle school. In reality, Lara Jean just wasn’t popular enough for Genevieve, so Genevieve cut her out of the group. To change the subject, Lara Jean shouts for Kitty. Kitty comes downstairs to say hi to Peter, but she refuses to help with the cupcakes. Peter and Lara Jean are measuring ingredients when Daddy gets home with Chinese takeout. Peter introduces himself, and Daddy seems happy to see him again; he remembers Peter from the old days. Daddy offers Peter food and agrees that Lara Jean can go to the party—he and Kitty will finish the cupcakes.
Though Peter cares a lot about what other kids at school think of him, he doesn’t seem totally sure of where anyone else stands—it doesn’t seem to occur to him that he and Lara Jean stopped hanging out before their pretend relationship because Genevieve didn’t want them to spend time together. It’s also significant that Lara Jean blames Genevieve for cutting her out. This suggests that Lara Jean was, in some ways, forced into becoming the “grandma” that Peter accused her of being—she might have wanted to stay a part of the group.
Themes
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Lara Jean runs upstairs to change. Right now, all her clothes look awful—she knows that Genevieve will inevitably be wearing the perfect thing. Peter knocks on her door, but Lara Jean sends him away. She needs more time to prepare for something like this. Finally dressed, Lara Jean runs to Margot’s room to look for a sweater. In Margot’s dresser drawer, Lara Jean finds a letter from Josh. She opens it and reads it. Josh writes that no matter what Margot says, she broke up with him because they had sex. Lara Jean stops reading—Chris was right about Margot and Josh. Lara Jean realizes she knows nothing about her sister and puts the letter back where she found it.
It totally changes Lara Jean’s view of Margot to learn that Margot and Josh had sex. It means that Margot broke the pact, which Lara Jean sees as a major betrayal. Her reaction is perhaps hypocritical, though, given that Lara Jean is keeping major secrets from Margot. Though Josh insists that Margot broke up with him because they had sex, it’s impossible to tell if that’s true or not, since none of them know Margot’s private reasoning. But if it is true, it could be that Margot and her sisters are so used to relying on each other that it’s difficult to let someone else in emotionally—it may have been easier to cut Josh out.
Themes
