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Chapter 11: Stella
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Five Feet Apart, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love and Sacrifice
Death, Grief, and Guilt
Risk and Consequences
Survival, Terminal Illness, and Hope
Hardship and Family Dynamics
Summary
Analysis
Will feels guilty and dejected, and Stella doesn’t speak to him all day. Walking down the hall, he hears Poe speaking Spanish on the phone in the hospital chapel. Will goes in, and Poe explains that he wants to visit his family in Colombia, but they don’t have enough money to make the trip. Will feels guilty for being annoyed by his overbearing mother and wanting time to speed up (when he turns 18, Will can make his own choice to abandon his treatments). Will offers to pay for Poe’s trip, but Poe denies the help. For the first time, Will feels like he wants to stay alive longer.
Just as Stella begins to understand and adopt Will’s view on living with terminal illness, Will starts to understand Stella’s view, too. Stella thinks that Will should be grateful that he has the resources to be in his drug trial, because many cystic fibrosis patients want the opportunity he has but lack the means. Will has always taken his mom’s wealth for granted and he has always wanted to quit the expensive drug trials, but learning about Poe’s circumstances humbles him. Will realizes that he shouldn’t squander the chance to extend his life, since so many other patients desperately desire the same opportunity.
Themes
Will draws an apology cartoon of him holding flowers and slides it under Stella’s room. Later, he goes to her room to see her. Stella explains that she needs surgery in the morning. Will knows that going under anesthesia with poor lung function is very risky, and he can tell how upset and scared Stella is. He realizes that this will be her first surgery without Abby. Will has an idea to make Stella feel better. He sets an alarm for early the next morning.
The disturbing news that Stella needs urgent surgery seems to overshadow any lingering anger Stella has towards Will. When Abby was alive, she was present for all of Stella’s surgeries, and Stella’s parents were a source of support at that time, too. Now, Stella feels alone, and her lung function is worse than ever. Will seems to realize that he is one of the only sources of support and reassurance Stella has at the moment.
Themes
