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
Mateo feels like the worst Last Friend ever and says that this is going to be awful. He tells Rufus that Lidia was destroyed when her boyfriend, Christian, died and never got to meet Penny. Rufus asks what happened. Mateo hesitates, but he realizes that Rufus will die with the story. He says that Christian went to Pennsylvania to sell stuff, and that’s when he got his Death-Cast alert. Lidia slept through all his attempts to reach her, and he died with a Decker truck driver trying to get home. Mateo remembers how Lidia seemed to resent Penny at first. Since then, Lidia dropped out of high school to care for Penny with her grandmother; she’s not close with her parents or Christian’s. Mateo doesn’t want to make her life more complicated by springing his death on her.
Trusting Rufus with the story of Christian’s death allows Mateo to learn that he can trust others with his secrets. Now, cultivating this sense of intimacy with Rufus may allow Mateo the strength to trust others with the truth about who he wants to be as the day wears on. Lidia’s initial reaction to Penny speaks again to the connectedness of life and death—Penny’s birth, just like Mateo’s, is unfortunately linked to a parent’s death. This makes it clear that it’s impossible to have one without the other.
Themes
Mateo calls Lidia. She’s awake and agrees that Mateo can visit. Rufus stays downstairs to call his friends while Mateo heads up. Lidia is frantically heating up formula while Penny screams. Mateo sends Lidia to brush her teeth and gives Penny the bottle. Lidia returns with the news that Howie Maldonado got his alert today, and Mateo shares that there’s nothing new with Dad. He tickles and burps Penny, thinking he’ll never get to do this with his own kids. Lidia settles Penny in front of cartoons, and Mateo asks what he can do to help. He cleans up Penny’s toys and tells the reader that Lidia initially wanted to study politics, architecture, and music history. She used to get her hair done weekly. Now, she never approves photos to go online because she thinks she looks tired, but Mateo thinks she glows.
As far as Mateo is concerned, Lidia’s life has changed for the better since having Penny. She might not be in school anymore, and she might be tired, but her connection with her daughter brings her to life in a way that academics never did. Similarly, Penny seems to bring Mateo to life. The way he plays with Penny is very unselfconscious, which implies that being around kids—who are at the beginning of their lives and don’t fear death yet—is one way for Mateo to work on breaking out of his shell. Surrounding himself with life and potential, in other words, is extremely beneficial.
Themes
Mateo sits with Penny and thinks that this is Penny’s beginning, but one day, Death-Cast will call her. He tells Penny that he hopes she becomes immortal so that she can rule forever. Lidia catches this and asks why Mateo is talking like this. She raises an eyebrow when Mateo says he just wants Penny to live forever. Mateo tells the reader that normally, he and Lidia don’t talk about their relationship, but he feels it’s important to say something today. He says that Lidia is doing a selfless thing by raising Penny. Lidia looks suspicious, and Mateo says he should leave soon. Lidia asks Mateo to do a few more chores before he goes. When Lidia leaves the room, Mateo leaves the envelope of money, grabs the garbage, and leaves. He blocks Lidia’s number, hoping she’ll understand.
Though Penny may be living life as though death doesn’t exist—as a baby, she doesn’t yet understand what death means—Mateo cannot escape the fact that even Penny is mortal. This helps Mateo decide to live his life boldly throughout the day. By recognizing that anyone, even an innocent child, could die at any second, Mateo is able to see the importance of doing things he might never get to do again. Saying these things to Lidia before shutting her out is, in his mind, a way to have his cake and eat it too: Lidia will know he loves her, but Mateo seems to think she’ll be better off if she doesn’t know he’s going to die beforehand.
Themes
