Williams College

Williams College enters the story through Rick’s unfinalized attempt to transfer from Yale. The possibility is not merely a change of school: it brings his family’s objections, Jenna’s need for support, and Ever’s questions about how much one person should give up for another into sharp focus.

The Proposed Transfer

Rick is trying to transfer to Williams, though the college has not yet finalized the decision. He has not told Ever, and Sophie does not know either. When Ever first hears about the plan from Rick’s aunt, she understands it as a sacrifice Rick is making for Jenna and wonders whether he is giving up Yale under pressure. Rick later explains that it is difficult for Jenna to be on her own as she navigates college and premedical studies, but does not say that she demanded the transfer.

The distance between the schools complicates Ever’s initial interpretation. She knows little about surviving a long-distance relationship and recognizes that separation can be painful, yet notes that Williams and Yale are only a few hours apart. She compares Rick and Jenna with Megan and Dan, who have sustained a relationship across six states. The transfer thus appears neither self-evidently necessary nor easily dismissed: its meaning depends on the care Rick feels and the degree to which that care is becoming self-denial.

Family Pressure and Jenna’s Circumstances

Rick’s relatives oppose his relationship with Jenna. During a Christmas visit with his mother, five aunts and uncles urged him to leave Jenna and find someone they considered suitable. His mother had also fasted for three days in an effort to persuade him to break up with her. Family disapproval gives the proposed transfer a wider context than a private decision between two students: Rick is acting amid persistent pressure from relatives who reject the relationship.

Jenna, as Rick describes her, wants to become a pediatric oncologist and work with children who have cancer. She chose premedical study herself; Rick says her parents did not impose that career on her. The uncertainty of her path weighs on her after she was wait-listed at every combined bachelor’s and medical-degree program she applied to the previous year. Rick believes she finds college difficult to face alone, and sees his support as part of helping her through it. Ever, however, wonders whether his move is necessary and whether fear of losing Jenna is shaping his choice.

Significance in the Story

Williams College functions as the concrete focus of a conflict over devotion and personal cost. Rick’s possible departure from Yale makes visible how readily he takes on the work of supporting someone he loves; Ever has heard that he drove Jenna everywhere and stayed up late listening to her worries, then completed his own homework afterward. The transfer extends that pattern from daily acts of care to a major educational decision.

Ever’s response remains uncertain rather than judgmental. She resists reducing the conflict to her own family’s assumptions about elite colleges, but cannot stop asking whether Rick truly needs to give up Yale. Williams therefore marks an unresolved choice: a transfer not yet approved, a relationship under family strain, and Ever’s growing awareness that care can be generous while still carrying a personal cost.