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
At lunch the next day, Peter, Darrell, and Gabe love the rice balls and eat most of them. When there’s only one left, Lara Jean offers it to Peter. But Peter, presumably remembering the accusation that he always eats the last slice of pizza, tells Lara Jean to take it. Lara Jean feeds it to Peter instead—and in that moment, she forgets that their relationship isn’t real. Peter notices and asks why Lara Jean looks sad, but Lara Jean makes a joke of it. He offers to buy her more food later, since he and his friends ate most of her lunch. Lara Jean also insists that she needs to start driving herself. She needs to practice—and Peter can sleep in if she drives herself.
Lara Jean’s relationship is starting to feel increasingly bittersweet. She’s certain that things are going to end, and that Peter isn’t really interested her. But at the same time, she also finds herself falling for Peter. This makes their lie even more difficult—because now, their relationship doesn’t feel so much like a lie. While this is sad for Lara Jean, though, her fear of intimacy means that she takes this emotion and channels it into making herself more independent.
Themes
