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Chapters 22–26

Summary: Chapter 22

Will, angry at himself for getting so close to Stella, packs up his stuff and calls an Uber to take him away from the hospital. While Will waits outside, Stella joins him and says she wants to go see the lights in the park. Will tries to dissuade her, arguing that the park is two miles away and it is freezing outside, but Stella remains adamant. They walk together, holding gloved hands while staying five feet apart. Stopping on the way to the park, they lie in the snow while making snow angels and looking at the stars, and Will notices that Stella has something bunched in her coat. She reveals she has brought a stuffed panda named Patches and explains that Abby gave Patches to her during Stella’s first hospital stay. While continuing on, they come across a frozen pond and, after checking that the ice is solid, Stella encourages Will to slide around on the ice with her.

Summary: Chapter 23

While on the ice, Stella hears her phone ringing and texts coming in. When she checks her phone, she sees messages from her parents and Barb that her new lungs are on their way to the hospital. Stella understands that if she gets new lungs, she could never be around Will again due to the risk of contracting B. cepacia. Stella turns off her phone and goes back to Will, deciding not to tell him about her new lungs. Will tells Stella that he loves her and they finally close the space between them, falling down together onto the ice. They nearly kiss but stop themselves. Will tells Stella that she has made him want a life he can never have. As the ice begins to break, they get up and start back to the hospital.

Summary: Chapter 24

Will checks his phone and sees texts from his mother that say Stella’s lungs are on their way. Will excitedly tells Stella the news and then realizes she already knew. Will tells her that the lungs can give her a new start, but Stella retorts that they can only give her another five years at most. Will, refusing to let Stella give up so easily, goes to call the hospital, and Stella tries to stop him, but one of her tubes gets caught and she falls onto the ice. Will goes to help her, relieved to hear her laughing, until the ice breaks and Stella falls through.

Summary: Chapter 25

Stella struggles underwater and sees Patches floating away. Stella has a vision of seeing Abby and wonders if she is dead, but Abby tells her she is not. Stella feels relieved and suddenly realizes she actually wants to live her life.

Summary: Chapter 26

Will, having gotten Stella out of the water, gives her CPR even though he feels the effort will kill him. Before Stella fully regains consciousness, Abby tells her to live and that they are only ever an inch apart from each other.

Analysis: Chapters 22–26

Provoked by Poe’s death, Stella no longer cares about what will happen to her if she breaks the rules. She leaves the hospital without telling any of the staff and walks farther in the snow than she should, and eventually, she and Will physically embrace. Stella saw what happened to Poe when he pushed the people he loved away, and now knowing what it is like to be in love, Stella does not want to live without it. Her outlook is now nearly identical to Will’s at the beginning of the novel, that she would rather live life fully than simply survive. Even when she receives the news that her new lungs are ready, she does not hesitate to ignore the news. Will, on the other hand, does not believe Stella should just give up and feels determined to save her. Stella has a change of heart when she faces death by nearly drowning, showing that her instinct to survive actually remains strong.

In these chapters, the snow at first makes the setting seem soft and magical. Stella and Will engage in innocent activities, such as making snow angels and sliding on the ice. The purity of the snow makes them feel protected and clean, like children without a care, and as they finally embrace, the snow offers a backdrop of romance. However, the snow and ice pose hidden dangers as well. The cold weather causes Stella and Will to cough as they exert themselves on their way to the park, and when Stella falls through the ice, she nearly drowns. This scene shows how the snow, like Stella and Will’s relationship, can be both beautiful and dangerous at the same time.

Since Abby’s death, Patches serves as a symbol for Stella’s relationship with Abby and as a way for Stella to physically hold on to Abby in a way she cannot in real life. Although Stella feels upset to see Patches float away, her vision of Abby reminds her that Abby’s presence is never far. Having felt closer to her sister than she has since Abby’s death, Stella no longer needs Patches to be by her side.

While Stella is close to death, Will puts his own life at risk in order to save her. He gives her his actual breath, life’s most precious resource, a resource of which he does not have much to spare. Even while knowing he could be passing on his B. cepacia to Stella, Will feels determined to not let her die even if his actions kill him, showing the depth of his love for her.

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