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Rufus, 5:39 p.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 drags Rufus to the dance floor as a guy performs an original rap about death. In any other circumstance, it’d be depressing—but with his friends and with Rufus, Mateo feels okay. The boys dance closer to each other, and as the song gets faster, Rufus asks Mateo to slow dance. Rufus leans in and says that he wishes they had more time so they could bike, go to arcades, and take the Staten Island ferry. Mateo says he wants to go to the beach and play with their friends, but he also wants to watch bad movies. Mateo thinks he wants them to have more history than just one day. He rests his forehead against Rufus and says he has to talk to Lidia. Rufus follows Mateo, and Mateo leads Lidia to a quiet spot.
As it gets later and later in the day, both Mateo and Rufus become increasingly aware that they don’t have much time left. Though they do take this time to lament all the things they’ll never get to do with each other, they also make sure to take advantage of the opportunity to dance, kiss, and be as close as they can. Mateo’s insistence that he needs to talk to Lidia shows that even as he shifts his focus to Rufus, he’s still loyal to Lidia and wants her to accept and support him in his new relationship with Rufus.
Themes
Lidia sees Rufus and Mateo holding hands. Mateo apologizes for never telling her that he likes guys; he thought he had more time to accept himself. Lidia says she wants to slap Mateo, but she hugs him instead. She asks what she’s going to do without Mateo. Mateo thinks that this is the reason he didn’t want to tell people he’s dying—he can’t answer questions like this. He just wants people to live. On the graffiti wall, he finds a pen that works, and he writes that he and Lidia were here together. He asks Lidia to promise that she’ll be okay, even if it’s a lie. Before Lidia can answer, Mateo notices that the Plutos and Aimee are standing between Rufus and three guys. A guy pulls a gun. Mateo races for them, knowing he won’t get to touch Rufus alive again. Lidia screams.
The dead, Mateo suggests, don’t have a lot of power. They can’t help their loved ones grieve or make sense of what happened. All a dying person can do is make sure that they spend as much quality time as possible with their friends while they’re still alive and hope that their friends can use those memories to overcome their grief. However, the novel again asks readers to consider that in the real world, people die unexpectedly every day. It’s important to tell people that they matter every day, as one might not have the chance to do so again.
Themes
