Jessie pairs up with Ethan for their English project on T. S. Eliot's “The Waste Land,” an iconic modernist poem published in 1922. This assignment is the basis of them spending time together, but their friendship develops into something much more meaningful than just study partners. They bond over their love of books and poetry, discussing the parts they have trouble understanding and the parts they feel drawn to. The lines Ethan recites (which he later admits he memorized to impress Jessie) all come from the first part of the poem, “The Burial of the Dead.” This section is known for its themes of fear, uncertainty, and despair, which are certainly relevant for Jessie and Ethan (as is the title itself), as they feel all these things after losing their loved ones.

Though it is never confirmed, Ethan's negative reaction to the famous opening line, “April is the cruelest month,” suggests that April is the month his brother Xander died. The line is provoking for Jessie, too, as it reminds her of her mother's reading notes—one of the things Jessie deeply regrets not asking her about while she was still alive. Before Jessie leaves for her visit to Chicago, Ethan quotes the line about the Hyacinth garden, and they both identify with the inability to speak and feeling “neither Living nor dead” (232).