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
Rufus stops in front of a sporting goods store and shares that he and Olivia loved to ski. They always went back to the same slope, even though everyone in the family got hurt once. Olivia insisted they not ski there anymore after Rufus was hospitalized. The boys reach the Make-A-Moment station, and Rufus takes a photo of the entrance and uploads it to Instagram. He shows Mateo his phone, and Mateo asks why Aimee is trying so hard to contact him. Rufus insists that he’s done with Aimee, since her boyfriend landed Malcolm and Tagoe in jail. He insists he doesn’t have feelings for her and marches inside.
Just as Mateo see his mother and Dad around town, Rufus cannot help but see his family members everywhere too. In this sense, their families are with them today, even if they’re not around in person. And by continuing to talk about their families and share these moments with each other, Mateo and Rufus can effectively bring their parents back to life for a short time.
Themes
A young black woman whose nametag reads “Deirdre” welcomes Mateo and Rufus and offers them a binder of experiences: skydiving, zip-lining, windsurfing, and more. Mateo suggests they do mountain biking, but Rufus says they should do skydiving, and Mateo agrees. They sign their waivers. Rufus makes a joke about it, but Deirdre doesn’t laugh. The boys pay $240, and Deirdre leads through a long hallway. Mateo peeks in the windows of the rooms that line the hall. Some Deckers inside are in racecars, a couple kisses in a hot air balloon six feet off the ground, and a man not wearing goggles holds the back of a girl who’s on a horse. He’s crying. Mateo can’t tell who the Decker is, but it makes him sad enough that he stops looking.
Deirdre’s lacking sense of humor may be a requirement of her job rather than a personality trait—she might be instructed to never make light of a person’s death. But it could also indicate that Deirdre’s job is emotionally-taxing and she simply doesn’t see anything funny about it. While Rufus and Mateo might be the ones forking over money for experiences like this before dying, Deirdre might be dealing with the emotional trauma of getting a paycheck in exchange for interacting with people who are soon to be dead. If seeing the people in the horse room makes Mateo upset, it likely also upsets Deirdre to some degree.
Themes
In their room, Mateo and Rufus get dressed in harnesses and ask their instructor, Madeline, to take their photo. She offers to take more for them while they’re diving and then explains that to start their experience, they’ll press the button on their goggles. She locks their harnesses to hooks and leads them up a platform. Rufus and Mateo put on their goggles and the experience begins: they’re in a plane, and a man gives Mateo the thumbs-up. Mateo is terrified that his harness might break, but Rufus leaps into the void. Mateo lifts his goggles to check that Rufus is okay, even if it ruins the experience. Then, he jumps. It’s exciting for a minute, but Mateo doesn’t feel relieved when he sees their landing field—he knew he was safe the whole time.
When Mateo doesn’t feel impressed or thrilled with their skydiving experience, it indicates that he’s ready to move out of his shell and try something more interesting. Even after just a few hours of trying to live authentically, Mateo is already getting closer to becoming the person he wants to be. He’s also becoming more like Rufus, who didn’t think that Make-A-Moment was going to be particularly thrilling to begin with. Despite how benign this experience is, leaping still represents progress—Mateo is learning to trust those around him who want to keep him safe.
Themes
After the experience, Madeline helps them out of their gear. As Mateo and Rufus pass Deirdre, Rufus suggests that they should’ve waited to swim with sharks, and Mateo thanks Deirdre. Outside, Rufus admits that the main jump was fine, but then it got weird. Mateo says he felt the same. Rufus suggests that they should’ve read reviews first, but Mateo points out that there aren’t many, and he apologizes for wasting their time. Rufus says it wasn’t a waste of time and posts the photo of them in their gear to Instagram.
Rufus makes the point that safe experiences like this are a fact of life. They might not be life-altering in major ways, but they nevertheless happen and are important. Even though this experience was artificial and a little weird, it still was an important step for Mateo to realize this. Now, he understands the value of taking risks, and that staying entirely percent safe and sheltered is boring.
Themes
Get the entire They Both Die at the End LitChart as a printable PDF.
