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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in If I Stay, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Sacrifice and Choice
Music and Harmony
Love, Family, and Relationships
Life and Death
Summary
Analysis
Mia is moved from the recovery room and into the intensive-care unit. She is plugged into multiple machines to keep her alive, and nurses check on her in a constant rotation. A social worker tells Gran and Gramps that Mia is in “grave condition,” and that she is in a coma in the wake of her surgery. The social worker notes that it can be helpful for comatose patients to hear their loved ones talk to them. Though Gran mentions the names of many relatives who are en route to see Mia, Mia notes Adam’s absence, and hopes he is on his way.
Even though Mia is able to move around the hospital unseen, she receives updates about her physical health at the same rate as her relatives, as she is unable to talk to anyone to ask. While she is glad to see her relatives assembled in her time of need, she worries the most about Adam’s reaction to the tragedy.
Themes
In a flashback, Mia recalls that she and Adam did not transition from friends to boyfriend and girlfriend as smoothly as she had hoped. Though they shared a love of music, they came from opposite ends of the social spectrum at high school, and often found that their conversations were strained. Mia feels uncomfortable when she attends Adam’s band’s shows, where he is the center of attention, surrounded by members of the punk scene. However, she loves to watch Adam play the guitar, even if she feels out of place at the venues.
While Mia and Adam bonded over their mutual love of music, Adam’s punk rock shows are very different from Mia’s classical music concerts. She worries that she is not cool enough, or does not have the right outgoing temperament, to fit in at Adam’s shows. As she fails to become more comfortable in his music scene, she becomes concerned that they may be too different to sustain their relationship.
Themes
Mia notes that had it not been for Adam’s warm relationship with her family, their romance may not have developed to the extent that it did. Adam was able to bond over punk music with Mia’s Mom and Dad, and he even plays basketball with her Dad as well. One night in Mia’s bedroom after dinner, Adam invites Mia to “play” him like she would a cello, and then he “plays” Mia like a guitar, resulting in their first sexual experience together.
Mia’s house becomes a common ground where Mia and Adam can be themselves without the pressures of their respective social scenes. Adam and Mia share their first sexual experience together in Mia’s bedroom, and they both experience it in the way they do almost everything, it seems—in musical terms.
Themes
