Dear Evan Hansen

Evan takes the bus to the Murphys’ house, as he is afraid of driving. He sees Zoe as he walks in, and he fears she knows that he is faking. She doesn’t talk to Evan at dinner until she catches him in a lie about Connor. Throughout dinner, she asks Evan questions to prove that he and Connor really were friends. When Evan claims they communicated through email, Zoe states, “We looked through his emails […] there aren’t any from you” (104). Evan explains that Connor wrote to him through a secret email account. Zoe is still skeptical because she never saw them together, but Evan tries to explain that they didn’t hang out at school because Connor didn’t want to be seen together.

Zoe challenges her mother to name the good things about her brother. Evan interrupts, saying he knows some of the good things about Connor. When pressed to explain further, Evan panics and blurts out the first thing that comes to his mind. Inspired by the bowl of apples on the table, he says they used to have meaningful conversations about life at an apple orchard. The Murphys recall going to the same apple orchard many years ago, during happier times for their family. Despite his lie, Evan feels relieved to have sparked a positive memory for the Murphys. He thinks, “I see how much my words mean to them. It feels good to make them feel good. It’s the right thing for me to be doing, to be making their hurt go away, even for a moment” (110). He embellishes the lie, claiming that he and Connor used to go to the field to talk. He claims they climbed a tall tree oak tree, which is ultimately how he fell and broke his arm, which helps him transform his idea of that day.

After dinner Zoe gives Evan a ride home. They don’t speak until they pull up to his house, when she corners him about how he knows Connor. She asks him if their confrontation at lunch was about drugs, but Evan denies that and claims he’s telling the truth.

Evan tells Jared about Connor’s supposed secret email account, and Jared taunts him by saying that the Murphys now probably think Evan and Connor were a couple. Jared tells him that the Murphys will want to see the emails, so he claims he can create the emails by backdating the messages.

Evan sees Zoe at school, and she stares at him like she suspects something, which causes Evan to feel guilty again. Despite feeling what he is doing is wrong, he can’t stop because he sees it’s helping Mrs. and Mr. Murphy move on. He likes easing their grief: “It’s like I was able to make them forget the weight of their misery. I brought them some relief” (122). He decides to take Jared up on his offer to fabricate the emails.

Jared takes Evan to a gym to work on the emails, claiming the open Wi-Fi will help hide their work. Jared jokes around with the emails at first, faking a tone that mimics a romantic relationship between Evan and Connor, but Evan tells him to be more realistic. They settle on an email in which Connor states he wants to stop smoking pot, per Evan’s advice. Evan writes back a fake response in support, hoping to suggest a genuine, supportive friendship between the two. After finishing a set of emails written from both his and Connor’s perspective, Evan prints them out to deliver to the Murphys.

The Part III segment of Chapter 10 is again written from Connor’s perspective, as he returns to the Murphys’ house while they read the emails. He finds what Evan writes laughable and observes his mom remarking the writing sounds different. However, he is moved by Evan’s words on the apple orchard, which trigger a neutral memory, neither happy nor sad. He notes that this was one of the few times his family behaved like a normal family: “My mother would pack lunches. Zoe and I would roll down that bumpy hill. My father put work aside. Paid attention. Why couldn’t that happen more often? Why couldn’t we carry that feeling home with us?” (134).

Zoe storms away, unable to hear what’s in the remaining messages. Connor follows her to his room, where she is writing a song on her guitar. He confesses how little he knows about her, even though they were friends when they were younger. Connor listens closely to the lyrics of Zoe’s song, and it appears she is writing a song about losing him. However, instead of expressing grief, her lyrics explore the pain he caused her when he was alive, and how she feels forced to miss him now that he is gone, when in reality his death is a relief.

A few days later at school, Evan wonders if his emails have reached the Murphys and what they think of them. As he sits in the cafeteria, he notices his classmates staring at him. He receives attention from people he has never spoken to because they think Connor was his friend. According to Alana Beck, who claims she was “close acquaintances” (144) with Connor, Jared has been telling everyone at school that Evan and Connor were really close. Alana asks if Connor is the boy cropped out of the photograph that everyone keeps passing around.

Evan’s classmates are capitalizing on Connor’s death by selling merchandise (such as buttons, shirts, and wristbands) with Connor’s name on them. Zoe sees Evan toss away a button that Jared pins on him. She says Connor would never have liked something like this, and Evan reluctantly agrees, feeling uncomfortable that Zoe is sharing this with him and thinking, “There’s so much weight in her eyes. I can’t decipher what any of it means or what particular shape it takes, but the overall heft of it, the total sum, it’s colossal and I’m staring straight at it” (146).

In the computer lab Evan reflects about being here a week ago, before Connor took his own life. Evan retraces his actions, wondering if their interaction had anything to do with Connor’s suicide. He wonders what would have happened if he had never broken his arm and therefore never had a cast for Connor to sign. He thinks about falling out of the tree. Ranger Gus was hard on him after the fall, explaining that the rules existed to keep Evan and the park safe, which Evan appreciated because he didn’t get that from anyone else. His dad, on the other hand, told him about a time when his stepdaughter broke her wrist, which made Evan feel worse.

After school, Evan receives an email from Connor’s mom, explaining that the emails show a side of a Connor they didn’t see. She asks him if any of the emails ever mentioned drug use or any of the people he bought drugs from. She also invites Evan over for dinner the next night. Evan’s mom forgets about their plans to get tacos and discuss the essay. She asks if Evan wants to tomorrow instead, but he says he has plans, indicating that he will be going to the Murphys’ for dinner.

Evan shows up to the Murphys’ an hour early, so Mrs. Murphy sends him to Connor’s room while she finishes preparing dinner. He looks around the room and notices that he and Connor actually have a few things in common. Zoe finds him in the room. She asks him why Connor mentioned her in the letter, which surprised her because they weren’t close. Evan tells her, “But he used to say that he wished you were. He wanted you to be” (160). She seems surprised, and Evan tells her that Connor used to talk about her often. She asks Evan to elaborate, but unable to think of anything, Evan just lists all the reasons why he likes her: “I know he thought you looked really pretty—I mean, sorry, what I meant to say is that he thought it was pretty cool when you dyed your hair blue” (162). Then Evan tries to kiss her. Zoe runs away and tells Evan she won’t be joining them for dinner. Over dinner, Evan is unable to finally come clean, as he planned to do.