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
Kitty and Lara Jean are helping Margot pack; Margot leaves tomorrow. Margot can’t decide which coat to take and ultimately decides to take two. The girls bicker good-naturedly, and then Margot sits down with her sisters and says that nothing is changing. They’re the Song girls forever. Daddy appears in the doorway and starts to lug Margot’s suitcases downstairs. Daddy has been on a cleaning spree for the last few weeks, probably because Margot is leaving. He’s gotten rid of all sorts of things, much to Lara Jean’s annoyance.
Saying that they’ll be the Song girls forever suggests that Margot believes the sisters can remain emotionally close, even as she moves far away. Meanwhile, Daddy’s cleaning spree shows that everyone in the family, not just Lara Jean, is struggling with the upcoming change. Cleaning, organizing, and choosing what items stay in the house is a way for him to feel more in control as his daughters grow up and move further away from him, emotionally and physically.
Themes
Lara Jean makes Margot promise to actually come home for Christmas, and Kitty complains that Lara Jean is mean. Lara Jean studies Margot’s face for any emotion or fear—but she sees nothing. The girls all sleep in Margot’s room that night. Once Kitty is asleep, Margot asks if Lara Jean has ever been in love. Before Lara Jean can answer, Margot says she wishes she’d fallen in love more than once in high school. Then, in an instant, she falls asleep.
Given how together Margot seems, it might come as a surprise that she has regrets about how she conducted herself during high school. This could signal to Lara Jean that following in Margot’s footsteps might not be the most fulfilling path. This is especially true since Margot seems to imply that to some degree, she thinks Chris is right: teenagers should live more and have more fun than Margot had.
Themes
Lara Jean wakes up in the middle of the night. Margot isn’t in bed, so Lara Jean gets up and looks out the window. Josh and Margot are out there, and Josh is crying. From their body language, Lara Jean can tell Margot hasn’t changed her mind. Lara Jean goes back to bed, feeling like she witnessed something too intimate. She wonders what it’d be like to have a boy cry over her—specifically Josh. Lara Jean has been in love once before, with Josh.
Because Lara Jean is so convinced that Margot and Josh belong together, it’s even more emotionally difficult to see them in such obvious distress. But she also shares another reason why this is so distressing: she used to be in love with Josh. It’s no doubt even more hurtful and confusing to see her sister hurt a boy Lara Jean herself loved.
Themes
