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Chapter 3: 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 stays up all night watching Stella’s YouTube videos. In the morning, he watches one from a year ago, and he is surprised at how much happier Stella looks in the video from how she seems now. The video shows Stella singing at a charity performance her dad and sister put on. Will is shocked to see that the video has 100,000 views. He tries to take a nap, but he wakes up when an alarm in the hospital goes off.
Stella seems annoyed by Will’s nonchalant reaction to the hospital alarms, but it turns out that he missed it because he was asleep after watching Stella’s videos all night. Will doesn’t know why Stella seemed happier a year earlier, but it seems likely that the change in her disposition is related to her parents’ divorce. The popularity of Stella’s YouTube channel indicates that she’s somewhat of a leader in the online community around cystic fibrosis. Despite her fears, it appears that Stella is generally positive and hopeful about the disease—or at least that she has found positive ways of coping with it.
Themes
Will’s mom comes to see Will with Dr. Hamid. As his mom talks, Will daydreams about the time he was in the hospital in Sweden for a couple of weeks. Will’s mom has sent him to various drug trials at hospitals all over the world. Dr. Hamid explains to Will’s mom that Will must comply with the hospital rules—he shouldn’t get within six feet of other cystic fibrosis patients because of the risks of cross-contamination. Will argues that his actions don’t matter because of his terminal diagnosis, but his mom and Dr. Hamid say that they have hope for Will’s future.
In contrast to Stella, who hopes to live as long as possible, Will has given up on fighting his illness. He believes that he will die soon, and that he doesn’t have a good reason to take his treatments seriously. Will’s mom does have hope for her son, though. She sends Will to drug trials to try to prolong his life as much as possible. This disagreement is a source of tension between Will and his mom, and it illustrates some of the tensions that severe, chronic illness can introduce into a family.
Themes
When Dr. Hamid leaves, Will’s mom criticizes him for his bad attitude and explains that it was difficult to get him in the drug trial. Will knows that it wasn’t actually difficult, it was just expensive. His mom wears a designer coat as she leaves the hospital, and she tries to give Barb a $100 bill on her way out. She tells Barb that Will is a difficult patient and that he doesn’t expect the drug to work. Barb returns the money and assures Will’s mom that the hospital will take good care of him.
Will’s mom’s extravagant spending suggests that she is very wealthy. Her wealth has allowed Will to do drug trials all over the world. Will doesn’t seem to respect his mother’s choice to spend so much money on his treatment, and, on the other hand, she doesn’t respect Will’s lack of active participation in his treatments, again showing how clashing outlooks on disease can complicate family dynamics.
Themes
Tired of the sameness of the white hospital walls, Will has the urge to go outside. He’s not allowed to leave, but Julie lets him sneak out. He rushes up the stairs and heads onto the rooftop, rigging the door’s alarm so it doesn’t go off. It starts to snow, and Will looks at the town from the rooftop. He always feels restless in the hospital, but now more than ever. He is close to his hometown for the first time in eight months, and he feels like his life is waiting for him. The hospital lights turn on, and Will is suddenly able to see Stella in her room below him. Stella looks up to see him just as a gust of wind hits Will and he starts coughing so hard that he can barely breathe. His vision blacks out and he starts to stumble on the roof.
Will’s decision to go on the roof exemplifies his opinion that taking care of his health is not worth it if it prevents him from doing things he wants to do. From the rooftop, he can at least see the town he’s in, though he wants to be more involved in the world. Will has a coughing fit on the roof because his lungs are very weak, which is why people with cystic fibrosis generally have to be careful not to get out of breath. As Will’s stumbling shows, getting out of breath can be incredibly dangerous for a CF patient.
Themes
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