Five Feet Apart Themes

Five Feet Apart centers around two teenagers, Stella and Will, who fall in love while hospitalized for cystic fibrosis. Terminal illness and the danger of cross-infection frequently force Will and Stella to make difficult decisions about what they are willing to sacrifice to continue their romance. When they first meet, in fact, Stella is closed off to the idea of a relationship with Will, since he carries a bacterial infection (B. cepacia…

Though Stella’s chronic illness has made her aware of the possibility of death in a way that many teens aren’t, her life takes a turn when her sister Abby dies in an accident. Stella was always prepared for own death since cystic fibrosis is a life-threatening illness, but she never thought she would grieve the loss of her healthy sister. Abby’s death leaves Stella with survivor’s guilt—Stella feels that she should have been the…

Stella and Will both have advanced cases of cystic fibrosis that they know will eventually kill them. Will, however, also has a resistant bacterial infection, B. cepacia, that renders him ineligible for a lung transplant. At the start of the novel, Stella fights for her life fiercely, and she tries to convince Will to do the same. But Will has no hope for his future. Jaded by his diagnosis, he is not motivated to…

Stella’s relationship with her parents changes after her sister Abby’s death, the event that is the catalyst of their divorce. Though Stella is still a teenager, she becomes fully responsible for herself as her parents become emotionally unavailable, and she takes on a caretaker role to her parents as well. She feels a constant responsibility to look out for them and ensure their wellbeing. Over the course of the novel the dynamic shifts…