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
Asian girls don’t have many options on Halloween. Lara Jean was Velma from Scooby-Doo last year, and everyone thought she was a manga character. Now, she’s decided to stick with Asian characters, so this year she’s dressed as Cho Chang from Harry Potter. As she waits for Peter before school, Josh comes out of his house—dressed as Harry Potter. They both laugh, and Josh offers to take Lara Jean to school, but she declines.
Because of Lara Jean’s close and friendly relationship with Josh, she doesn’t think anything of seeing him dressed as Harry Potter. Dressing as an Asian character is a way to try to control what kind of attention she gets from her classmates on Halloween. This makes it clear that while Lara Jean’s biracial identity might not be a huge focus of the novel, it’s still something she has to think about, and it sometimes affects how her classmates see her.
Themes
Peter is late, as usual. As Lara Jean gets into his car he asks if she’s an anime character. Lara Jean snaps that she’s Cho Chang, but Peter gives her a blank look. He’s not dressed up; he explains that he’s changing before the school assembly. Lara Jean doesn’t ask what his costume is. She’s angry, and he doesn’t ask what’s wrong. Finally, she snaps that she wishes he wasn’t always late. They argue, and Lara Jean says she’s not going to ride with him if he’s late.
Lara Jean discovers here that she can do everything in her power to influence how other people see her, but she won’t always be successful. The success of this costume rests on most of her classmates being familiar with the Harry Potter series, which Peter clearly isn’t.
Themes
Chris (dressed as Courtney Love) and Lara Jean sit in the theater balcony during the costume judging. Peter and his friends are dressed as superheroes; Peter is Spiderman. Genevieve is Catwoman. Peter and his friends win for best group costume, and Genevieve wins best individual costume for her grade. After the assembly, Peter finds Lara Jean at her locker. Just then, Josh walks by and pretends to shoot a spell at Lara Jean. Lara Jean retaliates with a spell of her own. Then, Peter says it’s “weird” that Lara Jean is wearing a couple’s costume with someone else. Lara Jean rolls her eyes, but she says it wasn’t planned and, anyway, nobody cares about her costume.
Peter, his friends, and Genevieve winning awards for their costumes cement their statuses as popular kids. Lara Jean and Chris, meanwhile, sit in the balcony, as they aren’t nearly as popular and have no reason to be seen by everyone else. But Peter also suggests that Lara Jean is more popular, or at least more noticeable, than she thinks she is. Dating Peter puts her on other people’s radar, and now she has to pay more attention to what their peers might think.
Themes
Peter is adamant that people notice that Lara Jean is dressed like Josh, but Lara Jean insists she has no choice. If she dresses as anyone else, they’ll think she’s a manga character. Peter says he could’ve been a Harry Potter character if they’d talked about it—and Lara Jean realizes that he’s never read the books. He insists he read the first two, but it’s been a while. Lara Jean tries a silencing spell on him, and they end up chasing each other down the hall trying to tickle each other. By the time they get to chemistry class, Lara Jean can’t stop giggling. During class, Peter passes her a note promising to be on time tomorrow. Lara Jean saves it. Later, she wants to be able to remember what it was like to be Peter’s pretend girlfriend.
When Lara Jean and Peter are honest with each other and note what they’d like the other person to do, they find that it’s not so hard to come to an understanding and make up. Indeed, this seems to make this day even more meaningful—making up makes Lara Jean feel warm and happy, and it makes her want to hold onto this feeling of being Peter’s girlfriend. So, although their relationship is fake, their dynamic as a pretend couple isn’t all that different from that of a real couple. Furthermore, Lara Jean’s desire to remember what it feels like to be Peter’s pretend girlfriend indicates that she’s developing real feelings for him.
Themes
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