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Chapter 23: 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 and Stella sit on the footbridge above the pond, talking about where they would like to live in the future. Will checks his phone and suddenly sees that his mom is texting him frantically about Stella’s transplant. He jumps up, shocked, but Stella doesn’t react. Will tries to talk Stella into getting the transplant, but she argues that the new lungs would only afford her a few more years of life. He starts to call the hospital but Stella reaches out to stop him. Her cannula tube catches on the footbridge, and she loses her balance and falls all the way off, slamming into the ice. A second later, the ice breaks, and her body falls through into the water.
Will wants Stella to get the transplant—he wants her to live as long as possible. This shows how much his relationship to Stella has impacted his mindset. At first, Will didn’t care about longevity and thought Stella was wrong to put so much effort into ensuring she lived longer. He realizes now that meaningful relationships make life worth living, and people should get as much time as possible with their loved ones. Stella’s fall into the icy water is life-threatening. Such a fall could be fatal to anyone but is especially dangerous for someone with poor lung function.
Themes
