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Chapter 7: 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
Stella videocalls Will and sees that he took off his AffloVest early. She tells him that she will call him every time they have to do a treatment, to make sure he complies with the regimen. They videocall for hours over the next couple days. Will learns techniques to make the treatments easier, and he can tell that Stella is becoming calmer and happier by helping him. Will’s health quickly improves. Stella tells Will that she’s sad because she can’t be in Cabo with her friends. Will tells her about a time he went to Cabo before his dad left. He tries to make her feel better about missing the trip. As they hang up that night, Will realizes how much he appreciates Stella’s company.
Will and Stella form a strong relationship very quickly. Stella is happy to help Will because it makes her feel good to help him live longer, and because she’s developing strong romantic feelings for him. Will doesn’t seem to think that his dad leaving when Will was young has affected him much, but it likely has impacted Will’s relationship with his mother. Will is the only close family his mother has, which parallels Stella’s situation—after losing Abby, Stella is her parents’ only daughter. Will and Stella’s terminal illnesses further complicate their already complex family dynamics.
Themes
