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 and Mateo pass the garden where Mateo buried the bird. Mateo asks if it’s okay if they visit Dad again as he leads Rufus up the stairs. Rufus is fine with that. Mateo says he misses being too young to fear death, and he even misses being paranoid. As Mateo unlocks his door, he says that he can’t believe he’s bringing a boy home and that there’s no one for Rufus to meet. Rufus looks at Mateo’s school pictures. Mateo says that he thinks he disappointed Dad by signing up for online classes. Rufus reminds Mateo that he’ll get to go tell Dad everything soon.
As the time of Mateo’s death gets closer, he becomes even more aware of all the different ways he’s thought of his death and of his life. He understands that despite only having lived for 18 years, he’s gone from not understanding death, to knowing about it and fearing it, to accepting it and still fearing it. Even though he accepts that it’s going to happen now, the fear remains—Mateo is still human and so he understandably still values his life.
Themes
Mateo leads Rufus to his room—it’s a mess. Mateo starts to pick up books and explains that he had a panic attack earlier, but he wants to clean up so that Dad doesn’t know he was scared when Dad comes home. Rufus says that he doesn’t like Mateo being scared either, but Mateo says it’s fine. As Rufus picks up a scrap of the map, he notices the Luigi hat and puts it on Mateo’s head. Rufus laughs, pulls out his phone to take photos, and tells Mateo to jump on his bed. Mateo grins and leaps onto the bed.
Even though Mateo is afraid, that fear doesn’t rule him anymore. That’s why he’s able to follow Rufus’s request and lose himself jumping on the bed for a few minutes. Even in a time of tragedy, life, happiness, and love still exist—and that’s what Rufus seeks to record through photographing their final day.
Themes
