In “Meet the Par­ents,” the nar­ra­tive cen­ters on the pro­tag­o­nist’s evolv­ing rela­tion­ship with Jef­frey, who invites her to Dart­mouth for the Green Key week­end after their first date. Although hes­i­tant about her par­ents’ accep­tance, she con­tem­plates a vis­it in the future. As she applies to col­leges, she focus­es on choos­ing a school where she can enjoy her independence—prioritizing a par­ty school over a more aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly inclined option, reflect­ing her desire to break away from her child­hood anx­i­eties and expec­ta­tions.

Mean­while, she takes a sum­mer job with a local archi­tect, rein­forc­ing her ambi­tion to pur­sue archi­tec­ture, much to Jef­frey’s admi­ra­tion. Their inter­ac­tions bring out the best aspects of her fam­i­ly life, with her par­ents show­cas­ing warmth and hap­pi­ness dur­ing Jef­frey’s vis­its, con­trast­ing her real­i­ty of parental cold­ness and con­flict.

As she secures her accep­tance to Syra­cuse Uni­ver­si­ty, dis­cus­sion about a home­com­ing vis­it to Dart­mouth stirs her father’s anx­i­ety. He loves that Jef­frey is a promis­ing young man but fears for his daughter’s safe­ty in unfa­mil­iar ter­ri­to­ry. After much delib­er­a­tion, her father reluc­tant­ly allows her three trips to Dart­mouth that year, prompt­ing a flur­ry of excite­ment for her first trip, which buzzes with vibrant col­lege life and her blos­som­ing con­nec­tion with Jef­frey.

The evolv­ing rela­tion­ship show­cas­es their plans to spend week­ends togeth­er and stay close through let­ters and phone calls while nav­i­gat­ing the com­plex­i­ties of the late 1960s soci­etal changes and her per­son­al incli­na­tions towards inde­pen­dence. With Jef­frey’s father injured in Viet­nam, the dynam­ics shift fur­ther, as the pro­tag­o­nist’s vis­it to meet his fam­i­ly becomes a cru­cial moment for both of them, empha­siz­ing feel­ings of sup­port dur­ing try­ing times.

Sum­mer presents chal­lenges for the cou­ple, includ­ing her mother’s insis­tence that she needs space to explore, urg­ing her to date oth­er peo­ple. This unex­pect­ed advice sparks out­rage from both, but they ulti­mate­ly strate­gize to main­tain their con­nec­tion as she tran­si­tions into col­lege life. This chap­ter reflects on self-dis­cov­ery, famil­ial expec­ta­tions, and the ten­der moments shared between young love amid soci­etal upheaval.