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
When Lara Jean asks Daddy to sign the ski trip permission slip, he’s thrilled. She’s been unwilling to ski since she got stuck in the splits when she was 10. When Lara Jean tells Margot that evening, she’s surprised and warns Lara Jean to be careful. Lara Jean figures Margot was warning her about skiing, but the next day, Chris explains why Lara Jean should be worried: the ski trip is a “school-sanctioned booty call,” and everyone has sex. There’s a hot tub, and people skinny dip. Lara Jean is worried. Peter won’t try anything with her, but will she have to sneak into his room to keep up their charade?
The fact that Lara Jean didn’t know that everyone has sex on the ski trip speaks to the fact that she’s a social outsider at school. Knowing this, the ski trip seems even more significant. Not only is Lara Jean stepping out of her comfort zone, but she might also have to pretend to be okay with physical intimacy, something that still makes her very anxious.
Themes
Anxious, Lara Jean begs Chris to come on the trip. Chris refuses and insists that Peter isn’t going to pressure Lara Jean to have sex or anything—he’s actually pretty decent, aside from the fact that he dated Genevieve. She elaborates that Peter and Genevieve had been having sex for a long time, and muses that maybe she should tell their grandma about Genevieve’s promiscuity. She declares that she’s glad Lara Jean “stole” Peter and warns Lara Jean to not ski alone on the trip—Genevieve is organizing the whole thing. Chris agrees to come when Lara Jean notes that Chris’s presence will make Genevieve mad.
Chris encourages Lara Jean to realize that Peter isn’t going to suddenly change just because he’s on the ski trip. He hasn’t pressured Lara Jean into anything yet, and Chris insists that he’s not going to start now—Lara Jean can trust him. But this passage also introduces the idea that kids can use one another’s sexuality to punish one another, something that does make the ski trip seem risky from a social standpoint.
Themes
