Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in They Both Die at the End, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Mortality, Life, and Meaning
Human Connection and Social Media
Choices and Consequences
Friendship and Chosen Family
Business, Ethics, and Dehumanization
Summary
Analysis
Though Delilah’s employer, Infinite Weekly, has secured Howie Maldonado’s interview, Delilah won’t be the one conducting it. Her boss, Sandy, ignores Delilah’s pleas and assurances that she knows everything about Howie. Delilah begs; she knows that this is how she’ll move up in the industry. Further, the Scorpius Hawthorne books and movies nurtured her love for this kind of writing and turned her into a “paid fangirl.” She asks if Sandy knows all about Howie. Sandy sighs and agrees, but she sends Dalilah to find a copy of Howie’s book before they meet him at two o’clock. Delilah heads off to find a bookstore and trips off the curb. A car stops feet from her face, but Delilah knows she’s not dying today.
The way that Delilah talks about Howie and her desire to tag along on the interview betrays some of the less desirable aspects of fame: to many, like Delilah, Howie isn’t a person. He’s a character they love and can connect with online. Because of this, Delilah isn’t necessarily thinking of Howie as an individual who, on his last day, deserves the same kind of compassion and care that anyone else does. In this case, the knowledge that a person is going to die today brings out the worst in others.
Themes
