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Chapter 16
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Tell Me Three Things, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Blended Families
Intimacy and Growing Up
Wealth, Fitting In, and Bullying
Home
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
In the morning, Jessie and SN exchange three more things. SN’s mom abuses prescription drugs, while Jessie regrets not learning to play piano like her mom. When she later meets Ethan to work on The Waste Land, he greets her by calling her “Dried Tubers” and says they should use the word as a nickname. He seems peppy as they start to walk and Jessie asks if he got some sleep. She explains that he always looks tired, and Ethan says he never sleeps well since he reads all night. They walk and eventually land at a Starbucks. Ethan buys Jessie a latte, which makes Jessie wonder if this is a date, if he feels sorry for her, or if he’s just being nice. She thinks he probably has a girlfriend with a robust sexual history, but Jessie is too embarrassed to ask Dri.
Discovering that SN’s mother abuses prescription drugs makes it clear to Jessie that while her home life may feel bad right now, she’s not the only one who faces major difficulties at home. This is something that transcends class boundaries. Jessie thinks so hard about why Ethan bought her the latte because she’s trying to figure out what their relationship actually is. She believes she should behave differently depending on whether he’s romantically interested versus just being nice.
Themes
Ethan says that he assumes Jessie isn’t going to Gem’s party on Saturday. He’s almost belligerent when Jessie says she’s going and is friends with Liam. Jessie is shocked but not surprised to learn that Ethan is in the band. He plays electric guitar. He says coldly that Liam is pretty good, but Ethan himself is good too.
Ethan’s tone when he talks about Liam suggests that there’s some tension between them. Again, Jessie isn’t the only one struggling with family and friendship issues—even privileged rich kids like Ethan are struggling to make their friendships work.
Themes
That night, Jessie finds Theo at the counter with a glass of wine, looking like he’s 40. He pours Jessie a glass and says their parents are still married. Theo doesn’t know where their parents went and says Dad and Rachel are both idiots—even he, at 16, understands that they can’t forget that people they loved died. Jessie thinks he’s right. Theo laments that he didn’t ask for all these hard things, but Jessie points out that he has multiple PSAT tutors and an in at any college he wants. Theo laments that Harvard only accepts five Wood Valley kids every year, so Jessie notes that no one from her school in Chicago ever got into Harvard. When Theo says his dad went to Harvard, Jessie laughs and points out that he’s a legacy. Theo offers to let Jessie join his Monday tutoring sessions.
Theo’s sadness reveals again that he’s just trying to fit in at Wood Valley. That means that he needs to get into Harvard, and he believes that the difficulties he’s facing this year because of Jessie will make that more challenging for him. However, she reminds him of the fact that he’s a legacy—since his dad went to Harvard, Theo is more likely to be accepted. Receiving this little bit of encouragement makes Theo feel more warm and generous towards Jessie, as he thanks her by inviting her to his tutoring sessions.
Themes
