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Chapter 9: 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 finishes his drawing of Stella and slides it under her door. She videocalls him when she sees it, and Will asks about Abby’s artwork in Stella’s room. Stella gets angry and hangs up on him. Hope and Jason come to the hospital to visit Will. They are happy that Will has started taking his treatment seriously, but Will doesn’t want them to have unrealistic expectations. Will shows them Stella’s videos and explains that he thinks something bad happened to Abby. She hasn’t been in Stella’s videos for a year, and she’s never come to the hospital. Hope checks Instagram, and she finds that Abby hasn’t posted in a year.
Will still doesn’t know at this point that Abby died, and he didn’t do anything wrong by asking Stella about Abby’s artwork. Stella’s reaction indicates that she is still grieving Abby, and perhaps that she is not handling the grieving process very well. Stella’s parents have been so overwhelmed with grief themselves that they have not been a stable source of support for her.
Themes
Later, Will meets Stella in the gym. Abruptly, he asks if Abby is dead. Stella cries, angrily, as she explains that her family was always expecting Stella’s death, but not Abby’s. Though she knows she’s dying, she feels that she has to stay alive for her parents’ sake. Will realizes that Stella’s obsession with her treatment plan isn’t because she’s afraid of dying—she has survivor’s guilt. Will argues that living such a regimented life isn’t worth it. Stella is upset, and she storms off.
Stella may not be grieving in the healthiest way possible (for example, she feels responsible for Abby’s death even though it had nothing to do with her), but her strong reaction is also due to Will’s tactless way of asking about Abby and arguing with Stella. Despite Stella’s reaction at this point, she does eventually end up partially adopting Will’s viewpoint that life is more worthwhile when it is not focused solely on survival.
Themes
