54 pages • 1 hour read
What If It's Us
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Epilogues 1 and 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Epilogue: “What If It’s You and What If It’s Me?”
Epilogue 1 Summary: “Arthur”
Fifteen months later, in Middletown, Connecticut, at Wesleyan University, Arthur is two months into his first year of college. Ethan isn’t picking up his phone, and Arthur is trying to check on him since he and Jessie just broke up.
He’s supposed to be at a party hanging out with his friend Mikey, whom he has kissed before. Feeling attractive, he decides to FaceTime Ben, trying not to think about Ben in a sexual way. He tells Ben about Ethan and wonders if he should visit him. The conversation turns to their dating lives, and Ben explains that he’s single. They’re surprised that Dylan and Samantha are the last couple still together, but Ben points out that he and Arthur are still friends. Arthur loves being his friend and thinks it could be what the universe wanted for them.
Epilogue 2 Summary: “Ben”
One month later, Ben posts the final chapter of his novel on Wattpad. He FaceTimes Arthur, who says he’s proud. Ben passed summer school and made it through senior year. Dylan and Samantha attend college in Illinois, while Ben attends school in the city.
When Ben says he doesn’t know what’s next for him, Arthur asks for a sequel, though Ben wonders if he should stop while he’s doing well. Arthur then asks how he knows unless he tries to give the story a potential future. Ben knows he’s not talking about his book. He’s always wondering, “What if?” (433). He wonders if the best is yet to come for them.
Epilogues 1 and 2 Analysis
Jumping over a year into the future, the Epilogue answers some of the readers’ questions but not all.
Arthur blooms in college, even though he does not attend Yale. He goes from being completely inexperienced romantically at the novel’s beginning to having relationships of varying seriousness with several boys. He is more confident in himself and his sexuality, as is apparent when he is “kind of feeling himself tonight” (423) and wants Ben to see how attractive he looks. However, he does not seem entirely caught up on Ben, though Ben implies differently in his section of the Epilogue. Arthur seems convinced that “the universe wanted” them to be friends, that “maybe that’s us” (427). On the other hand, Ben still thinks of Arthur and wonders, “What if we haven’t seen the best us yet?” (433). As a result, the universe’s role in their lives is still open, leaving it up to the audience for interpretation. Relating to the theme of Changing the Past and Knowing the Future, Albertalli and Silvera have made it impossible to know the future, even in giving us a glimpse of it.
Ben has shown a new level of confidence in sharing his novel online. He attributes much of this to Arthur, who “makes this whole book thing extra real” (430). His willingness to put it online shows an enormous change from his initial unwillingness to allow anyone to read it. Then, Arthur was able to read it. Eventually, it became accessible to everyone, exemplifying Ben’s willingness to share his talent.
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