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
As Rufus rides his bike beside Mateo, Mateo says he has one idea: he’d like to go visit his mom’s grave. Rufus agrees, but he stops in at a drugstore first, where he buys Mateo a set of Legos as a thank-you for the Instagram idea. After this, they catch their train and talk about where Rufus wanted to travel. As they chat, the lights flicker and everything shuts off. The intercom says that there’s a delay in the system, but Mateo thinks that someone could stab them. He scoots toward Rufus so their legs touch, hoping to protect Rufus so that Rufus can see the Plutos again. Rufus turns on the flashlight on his phone, massages Mateo’s shoulder, and then dumps Legos into Mateo’s lap. He tells Mateo to build something.
Buying Mateo the Legos and then talking Mateo down from his panic attack are tender, meaningful ways that Rufus can deepen his connection with Mateo and show that he cares and is listening. Furthermore, it works. Because of Rufus’s kindness, Mateo is able to make the most of his best day and spend it doing new things, not just panicking about his impending death. In other words, Rufus’s kindness refocuses Mateo’s attention to the act of living, rather than letting him dwell on dying.
Themes
Mateo’s heart is pounding, but he aimlessly puts bricks together. Rufus asks where Mateo wanted to travel. Mateo feels suffocated—now that he’s dying and can’t travel, he wants to go everywhere and do everything. After a minute, Mateo realizes he’s building a sanctuary—it reminds him of home. At home, he hid from excitement, but home also kept him safe, alive, and happy. Mateo finishes his sanctuary and his head droops. He snaps awake and apologizes for not listening, but Rufus insists that Mateo rest. Mateo argues, but he eventually agrees. He knows that Rufus is watching him. It’s weird at first, but then it feels nice, like he has a personal guardian.
After only a few hours with Rufus, Mateo is already in a better place to think about his relationship to home. Just as his social media presence is multifaceted (he did focus on death, but he also made others feel loved on Facebook), home isn’t as one-dimensional as he thought at first. Staying home helped him stay safe—and it turned him into the kind of person who’s prepared to be Rufus’s Last Friend.
Themes
