46 pages • 1 hour read
Jenny HanP.S. I Still Love You
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Locket Necklace
Lara Jean feels touched and impressed by Peter’s Valentine’s Day gift of a locket necklace. It is an expensive necklace that she has seen in his mother’s antique store and has desired for a long time (as she has Peter himself). Together with the necklace, Peter has also written her a romantic Valentine’s Day poem, and the two gifts together make her feel chastened, as well as touched. She feels guilty for her suspicions about his ongoing closeness with his ex-girlfriend Genevieve and also for what she perceives to be the relative meagerness of her own Valentine’s Day card to him.
Peter’s gift turns out not to be quite as thoughtful as it seems. He has plagiarized the Valentine’s Day poem from the Edgar Allen Poe poem “Annabel Lee,” and he callously asks for the locket necklace back when he and Lara temporarily break up, as if it were an engagement ring. On the other hand, his ongoing closeness to Genevieve turns out to be more or less innocent, at least on Peter’s side; he is indeed trying to be her friend during a difficult time, just as he has told Lara Jean. Rather than showing his deviousness, then, his closeness to Genevieve shows his loyalty and strength of character; it also shows his insecurity and neediness and his very masculine addiction to being needed.
Peter ends up giving Lara Jean back the locket necklace, although in the least romantic way possible: he simply dumps it in her hand on her birthday while she is having a private moment with John, her other love interest. John has also just given Lara Jean a birthday present—a snow globe—leaving his own school early to surprise her with his present in the parking lot. Peter’s sudden presentation of the locket necklace seems fueled at least in part by competitiveness with the deliberate, gentle John, and by a desire to present himself in exciting contrast to him. He is also telling Lara Jean, in giving her back the necklace with so little ceremony, that he loves her in his own flawed and particular way, and she can take it or leave it. To Lara’s Jean’s surprise (and perhaps to the reader’s as well), she decides to take it. Thus, the locket represents Peter’s feelings for Lara Jean, and his gifting and retrieval of it symbolize his shifting emotions.
Games
Lara Jean is fond of games of all kinds. She enjoys a game like cakewalk for its reliance on chance, for how little effort and strategy it requires, and perhaps especially for how much it recalls childhood. On the other hand, she also appreciates the game “Assassin” for the opportunity to strategize and to sneak around: to play at being an adult out in the big frightening world.
Another character in the novel who appreciates games is Stormy, a patient at the retirement home where Lara Jean interns. This is seen in how she stage manages Lara Jean’s and John’s romantic encounter during a snow storm, when they must (on Stormy’s insistence) spend a night at the retirement home. Stormy further insists that the two must sleep in separate bedrooms, knowing that they will sneak out together when they believe that the coast is clear. This will allow Stormy herself to sneak out of her own room and into the room of Mr. Morales, John’s ostensible roommate at the retirement home and Stormy’s secret boyfriend. Stormy’s behavior could seem manipulative and devious, except that she admits to it, explaining to Lara Jean the following day that romance is always more fun if there are obstacles in the way.
Stormy is an elderly woman, and Lara Jean is a young one. The two of them could be said to approach games and game-playing from opposite directions. For Lara Jean, games are sometimes a way of escaping impending adulthood, and at other times, a safe way of preparing for it; either way, games are separate from what she sees as serious real life. Stormy, meanwhile, has lived long enough—and has had enough husbands and love affairs—to understand that game-playing is often a part of life, whether people know that they are playing games. She sees nothing wrong in acknowledging this difficult truth, therefore turning it into something light and playful.
Sugary Treats
Lara Jean enjoys baking, especially desserts. She bakes a caramel cake for a PTA-sponsored cakewalk, makes an elaborate spread for her younger sister Kitty’s birthday slumber party, and makes a heart-shaped waffle for her father on Valentine’s Day. She also makes nostalgic snacks for the time capsule party. While generous and light-hearted, her baking of treats also has a distinct competitive edge. She is proud to see that she is the only person at the cakewalk to have baked a cake from scratch; her spread for Kitty’s slumber party is motivated not only by love for her sister, but by a desire to surpass other slumber party feasts that Kitty has mentioned to her.
Lara Jean is a traditionally feminine girl in many ways. She likes giving herself manicures and facial masks; she enjoys the feminine work of hosting gatherings and connecting other people. Her cake-baking is one manifestation of her femininity, and it shows just how complicated femininity can be. It looks light and sweet and simple, but there is considerable effort—and frequent competitiveness—behind her baking habit.
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By Jenny Han
