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Delilah Grey, 5:00 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
Mateo withdraws $400 out of an ATM and puts it in an envelope for Lidia. He suggests they hang out in Lidia’s lobby since it’s too early to visit, but Rufus says it’s time for breakfast. Mateo is happy to follow. Rufus takes Mateo to his favorite café and leads Mateo to a booth in the back, which he says is his spot. He comes about twice per week. When Mateo asks if this is Rufus’s neighborhood, Rufus says it has been for the last few months since he was placed in foster care. Mateo realizes how little he knows about Rufus and how one-sided this Last Friendship is. Rufus points out the Decker discount. Meals are free, which is unusual.
That free meals for Deckers are unusual can be read as both questionably moral and as proof that despite the way death works in the novel, life still goes on. Businesses possibly can’t afford to give every dying person free meals; they have bills to pay too. The fact that this café chooses to give free meals suggests that the owners may be especially compassionate—they might be trying their best to recognize the humanity and the tragedy of the dying Deckers who come through.
Themes
A waitress walks up, greets them, and tries to make small talk before asking the boys’ orders. Her nametag reads “Rae.” Rufus says he’s changing things up today, since it’s his last chance, and he asks what Rae would suggest. She laughs for a moment when she asks if they got the alert, but then she becomes very serious. Rae tries to sell Rufus on the Everything Special but then admits that her favorite meal is the grilled chicken salad. Rufus orders that. Mateo asks for Rufus’s usual. They hear Rae tell the chef to put their table first, and Mateo wonders if Andrea was like Rae before her job “killed her compassion.” They discuss the merits of telling their friends that they’re dying. Mateo doesn’t want to ruin people’s days, but Rufus insists they need to stop caring what other people think.
Again, Rae’s nametag forces Rufus and Mateo to humanize her and see her as a full person, not just as a waitress. They’re forced to make this connection with Rae—something that seemingly has a deeply emotional effect on her. However, comparing her to Andrea may not be entirely fair. While it’s unclear how many Deckers Rae serves every day, Andrea speaks to dozens of Deckers per day—Andrea has to numb herself in order to make it through, while Rae doesn’t deal exclusively with dying people. This means that Rae is better able to acknowledge the tragedy without getting stuck in it.
Themes
Rae returns with their food and says that if they need anything, to yell for her. Mateo sizes up his French toast, which reminds him of Dad. He offers some to Rufus, but Rufus grabs Rae’s forgotten notepad, starts to draw a map, and says he wanted to travel the world taking photos. He draws the countries he’ll never visit. Mateo suggests they visit the Travel Arena, which has good reviews on CountDowners, but Rufus says he never reads that sort of thing. He asks Mateo what Mateo wanted to do. Mateo says he wanted to be an architect, but he doesn’t share that he dreams of performing on a stage he built. He mentions that he played with Legos a lot. Rufus did too. Rufus takes a bite of the French toast and Mateo asks for the bill. He tips 300 percent and thanks the staff.
Mateo’s conception of how to live his final day is majorly influenced by what he reads online. It’s unthinkable for him to try to figure out what he actually wants to do, since his experiences with Deckers seems to have been mostly contained to CountDowners and online reviews of places like the Travel Arena. It’s important to Mateo that this café continue to treat other Deckers with compassion, so he does what he can to help them keep doing this. Paying his bill, tipping so well, and making sure to thank everyone lets the café know that treating Deckers like this is admirable.
Themes
