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Chapter 15: 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 listens to Stella’s voicemail over and over, wishing he could be with her. The next day, Stella sends him a link to her newest video. In the video, she talks about B. cepacia. She describes the rules of being a cystic fibrosis patient with the bacteria and talks about how B. cepacia lives mostly in saliva, so someone with the infection can’t ever kiss another immunocompromised patient. In the video, Stella goes on to explain that cystic fibrosis has taken so much from her life, so she is deciding to reclaim one foot of space. Instead of staying six feet away from Will, she will only stay five.
Stella takes a bold stance by completely reversing her prior mindset and deciding to intentionally break the recommended guidelines in order to be one foot closer to Will. Again, after her surgery Stella realizes that strict treatment regimens can’t protect her from everything, and that her connection with Will is worth pursuing despite the risks to her health. The universal guideline for people with cystic fibrosis is to stay six feet away from other immunocompromised patients. At this point, however, Stella is in love with Will. Her love, as well as her newfound adventurousness, motivate her to reclaim one foot of space.
Themes
Stella knocks on Will’s door as he watches the video. He opens it to find her standing there with a pool cue measuring exactly five feet. Will is excited but scared. He wants to kiss her, but he agrees to stay five feet away. They plan to meet in the atrium later that night. Will repeats to himself what Stella says in her video: “Cystic fibrosis will steal no more from me.”
Will is still scared by Barb’s story about the couple who died of B. cepacia, but Stella’s video inspires him. After all, her video reflects the ideas Will held when he first met Stella. Will feels torn between wanting to risk his and Stella’s health to enjoy their relationship together and wanting to stay as far away from Stella as possible to ensure her safety. Ultimately, they both decide that being together—five feet apart, against official recommendations—is worth the risk.
Themes
