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Mateo, 8:32 a.m.
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
Lidia isn’t dying today because she didn’t get a call from Death-Cast. If she were, though, she’d tell everyone, unlike Mateo. Lidia figured it out and called Mateo and her Abuelita, and Abuelita came home. Penny is wailing. Lidia knows all of Penny’s cries and what they mean, but she can’t fix this one—Penny wants her Uncle Mateo. Lidia logs onto Facebook: Mateo’s profile is a “wasteland.” He’s never shared much about himself, but he’s great at letting other people know they matter by liking and commenting. She clicks through all his photos, but it’s too painful. Tomorrow, she’ll put up a status about her best friend dying. She’ll never know how Mateo spent his End Day, but she hopes he finds what he’s looking for.
Even if Mateo’s Facebook profile might leave a lot to be desired, Lidia still sees that Mateo left a mark on his friends’ lives on social media by commenting on their posts. This suggests that while Mateo might not be as connected to the real world and to real people as Rufus, for instance, but he still used social media as a tool to help him connect better with his real-life friends. This provides a fairly accurate representation of the kind of person Mateo is: he cares for others in every way possible, even if he doesn’t always care for himself.
Themes
