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Chapter 6: Will
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
Stella is alone in Will’s room to set up his medications for him. She downloads an app that she created onto his phone. Stella knows that if Barb knew she was in Will’s room, she’d be in a lot of trouble. Stella listens at the door and hears Will reassure Poe that he disinfected his room before Stella entered. As Stella organizes Will’s medications on his med cart, she notices one of his drawings. It’s a cartoon of him holding balloons and trying to breathe into deflated lungs. It has the caption, “Just breathe.” It reminds Stella of the drawings her sister Abby used to make for her.
Stella doesn’t want to get in trouble with Barb, and she especially doesn’t want to catch B. cepacia, but she takes a risk by entering Will’s room (against hospital rules) to help organize his medication and treatment plan. Stella is typically very risk-averse, but over time her care for Will motivates her to take more and more risks despite the possibly devastating consequences.
Themes
Stella emerges from the room and tells Will that she made an app for chronic illnesses. It will notify Will when it’s time to take a medication or do a treatment. Stella is pleased to see that Will is very impressed that she coded her own app. She goes to the bathroom and removes the scrubs, mask, gloves, and goggles she was wearing in Will’s room. As she sees all the surgery scars on her body in the mirror, she wonders how Will could think she is beautiful. Stella goes back to her room and watches her friends’ social media posts about Cabo.
Though Stella took a risk by going to Will’s room against the rules, the extreme precautions she took—by wearing gloves, goggles, etc.—show that she is still trying hard to protect herself. Stella’s considerations about what Will thinks of her suggests that she is developing romantic feelings for him.
Themes
Barb suspects that Stella was in Will’s room, but Stella denies it. Poe and Stella videocall, and Poe warns Stella that it’s a bad idea to get involved with Will. Stella denies having a crush on Will, but she’s not sure if she’s lying or not. She hangs up on Poe, and he yells angrily from down the hall before slamming his door. Will texts Stella, inquiring about the argument. She feels butterflies in her stomach when she sees the text, but she ignores it. Stella gets a notification to put on her AffloVest. She knows Will got the same alert, and wonders if he will comply.
Stella clearly does have feelings for Will, but she is hesitant to admit it. Poe and Barb warn her against developing a relationship with Will because it is very dangerous for Stella to be within six feet of him, and she usually avoids anything that could endanger her health. The fact that Stella, Poe, and Will all have to communicate with each other through texts and calls highlights the gravity of their situation. It’s safer to communicate digitally than to meet in person, even though they are all close enough to each other in the hospital that they can hear each other if they shout.
Themes
