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 wishes Death-Cast had called him before he ruined his life earlier—he thinks through all the things he wouldn’t have done had he gotten the call earlier. Because Death-Cast called when it did, Rufus is alone. Now, he pedals hard. At a gas station, Rufus stops and notices graffiti advertising the Last Friend app. He thinks that he never gets to say proper goodbyes to anyone—he didn’t get to hug his family or the Plutos. He won’t get to thank anyone for anything. However, Rufus thinks that he doesn’t need to be alone—he studies the graffiti and decides that a Last Friend might be able to discover the good version of Rufus. Apps aren’t really Rufus’s thing, but neither is beating people up. He registers as a Decker and receives seven messages. One is from a guy claiming to have the cure to death in his pants.
Getting a message from a user who’s clearly the same Philly that messaged Mateo indicates that such misuse is widespread on the app—this again makes it clear that there are major issues with apps and social media platforms like this. Meanwhile, now that Rufus has received his Death-Cast alert, everything he’s done seems to carry more weight. This is because Rufus now knows he has little time to atone for what he’s done. His current desire to connect speaks to the power of new friends in particular—without baggage or prior knowledge, they can bring out new or previously-hidden qualities in a person.
Themes
