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 likes to save silly things, like souvenirs and ribbons. The most important things she saves, though, are her love letters. She keeps them in a teal hatbox that Mommy bought her, and the love letters are ones that she wrote herself. There are five, one for every boy she’s ever loved. She writes like the boys will never read the letters, because they never will read them. Then, she seals and addresses the letters, and puts them in her hatbox. They’re not exactly love letters; rather, Lara Jean writes the letters when she doesn’t want to be in love anymore. She thinks of them like “exorcisms” designed to set her free—in theory, at least.
Laura’s habit of saving these love letters in such a special place makes it clear that she likes the idea of being in love. However, she writes these letters to help herself get over the boys rather than to tell them how she feels. This suggests that while the idea of intimacy and romance might be nice, she’s not comfortable with taking action—there’s no indication that she has any romantic experience beyond writing these letters.
Themes
