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
Death-Cast is calling Mateo. His phone rings with the distinctive alert, and Mateo feels like a skydiver. A minute ago he was reading a CountDowners entry about a college kid trying to find a home for his dog, but now, Mateo knows he’s dying today at 18 years old. Mateo wants to hide or get angry—Dad chose the wrong time to end up in intensive care, and Mateo’s mom marked him for an early death by dying during his birth—but he can’t avoid it. Mateo answers the phone and a woman named Andrea asks for Timothy. Mateo sighs, relieved, but Andrea apologizes—Timothy was her last call; Mateo is also dying. She briskly asks Mateo to confirm his identity.
The idea that Mateo feels like a skydiver suggests that he doesn’t feel like he has control over his own situation. He’s going to die, but he can’t control anything about how or when that happens. Andrea’s gaffe could be chalked up to excusable human error, but her manner leaves a lot to be desired—one would hope that a person informing others of their impending death might be more compassionate. However, it's significant that readers are only getting Mateo’s side of the story here; Andrea may have her reasons for behaving like this.
Themes
Mateo thinks that he always expected his herald would be more sympathetic. Andrea sounds bored as she goes through her spiel, asking Mateo to go to death-cast.com to make special funeral requests and enter what he wants on his headstone. Mateo thinks that with Death-Cast, people are awake at their funerals—but isn’t the time better spent living? Andrea thanks Timothy for his time and offers her condolences. Mateo corrects her on his name. Andrea says she’s having a busy and stressful day, so Mateo hangs up. He sinks to the floor. There are only a few people Mateo will miss, including Dad and Mateo’s best friend, Lidia. Mateo is a “paranoid mess,” so no one wanted to be friends—and now, he regrets wasting opportunities. Most of all, he misses Future Mateo, who would do things like date, smoke pot, and go to Puerto Rico to learn about his roots.
Already, Mateo is starting to understand that he has some choice in regards to how he spends his last day. He can choose to have a funeral—but he could also choose to go out and live. Though it’s important to have compassion for Andrea and people like her who perform difficult jobs like this, the fact remains that she’s making the difficult news even worse and is making him feel awful—she’s making him feel even lonelier than he already is. Mateo’s insistence that Future Mateo would do more things suggests that he’s gone through life thinking he has lots of time. Knowing he’s going to die today makes him feel like he doesn’t have to make choices now.
Themes
Mateo takes a shower to clear his head of confusing “Mateo Thoughts.” He decides to tell no one but Dad, but Dad isn’t awake anyway. He knows he has to go out and at least see Dad, Lidia, and Lidia’s one-year-old baby, Penny. Mateo is Penny’s godfather, which he admits is silly since he’s only 18 and can’t care for a baby, but he was supposed to be there for her anyway. Now, he’s just going to be a picture in a photo album. This isn’t an excuse, however, to not go cuddle her one last time. Mateo steps carefully out of the shower; he doesn’t want to slip, die, and end up on the DumbDeaths blog. He writes thank-you notes for his neighbors, who have been checking in. Sean was even going to try to fix the busted stove burner.
Mateo’s passing mention of the DumbDeaths blog, as well as the fact that he was just on the CountDowners platform, indicates that he spends a lot of time online. Though this is one way for him to connect to others, the kinds of social media he uses don’t let him connect with people long-term, since the nature of these platforms means that most of the people he follows will soon die. When he insists he has to go cuddle Penny and leaves notes for his neighbors, it shows that Mateo does understand the necessity of connecting in person.
Themes
It’s almost one a.m. Normally, Mateo would be playing video games and going to school exhausted. Now, he wishes he’d taken art or played piano in band instead of taking free periods. He vows to leave the house at exactly one a.m. to enjoy the world instead of just moving through it. He starts to leave but decides not to. It’s silly to walk out into a world that’s going to kill him too soon.
Mateo’s life is ruled by fear and at this point, regret. He now understands the consequences of his choice to not take chances or try new things. However, if Mateo never leaves his apartment, he’s only going to bring about further regrets.
Themes
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