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 scrolls through Instagram. He’s certain that Malcolm and Tagoe are asleep, since they’re not texting back and they haven’t been on Instagram. He’s in the middle of texting an apology to Aimee when Mateo races down the stairs and out the front door, insisting they need to leave before Lidia chases them. Outside, Rufus tells Mateo to say whatever he needs to say and not carry it around. Mateo shouts and sits on the curb. Rufus grabs Mateo, takes him to the safety of a wall, and sits down next to him. He tells Mateo that he can do whatever he wants with his last day, but if he wants help living it, he has Rufus. Mateo says he wants to keep moving forward and puts his glasses back on.
The way that Rufus talks about social media is very different from how Mateo talks about it. For Rufus and his friends, it’s just one more way for them to connect—it’s a single aspect of a strong relationship that began in person, not a substitute for human connection. However, his misinterpretation of Malcolm and Tagoe’s silence does show that even when people use social media like this, it still can’t tell the entire story—they need to see each other for that.
Themes
Rufus says he didn’t get to say goodbye to his friends, but he dances around what happened at his funeral. He refuses to set up a CountDowners profile, but he allows Mateo to look through his Instagram. It makes Rufus feel exposed. Mateo asks why all the photos are black and white, and Rufus explains that he started his account when he moved into the foster home because his life “lost color” after his parents died. Mateo smiles, brightens up, and suggests that Rufus should post everything from today on his Instagram—in color, so that the Plutos can remember him that way. Rufus loves the idea and asks Mateo to take a photo now. He uploads it and hopes that the people who matter will remember Rufus as the person he really is, not as the person who punched Peck for no good reason.
Rufus latches onto documenting his End Day on Instagram because it’ll give his friends a way to remember him. As much, photos begin to symbolize not just life and memory, but the idea that there are ways for people to live on long after they’re gone. Rufus also still recognizes that he has a choice in how people see him now and how people remember him. Doing kind things, like leaving pictures for his friends, will help Rufus be the better person he wants to be, not the person who was violent and mean.
Themes
