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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 and Rufus get the same notification that there’s a Make-A-Moment location nearby. Mateo explains that the locations launched last fall; they’re like the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Deckers can go use virtual reality simulations to skydive and take other risks safely. Rufus suggests it’s a rip-off, but Mateo doesn’t think it’s that bad. Rufus steps off the curb without looking, but Mateo holds him back—they look both ways and then cross the street. Rufus thinks that he should be nervous after watching his family drown. Just then, Mateo’s phone rings: it’s Lidia calling from her grandmother’s phone, but Mateo ignores it. Rufus tries again to call Malcolm and Tagoe, and then he FaceTimes Aimee. She picks up right before Rufus is ready to hang up.
Make-A-Moment sprang up to fill the Deckers’ perceived need to go through experiences like this before they die. Given that the novel overwhelmingly suggests Rufus has a better handle on how to best use social media, it’s likely that he’s right in his assessment of Make-A-Moment. From the way that Mateo interacts with death, though, it’s understandable that he’d be interested in Make-A-Moment. For him, these kinds of contrived experiences are just what he wants, anyway, since they’re safe.
Themes
Aimee is shocked that Rufus is alive, seems dazed when Rufus introduces Mateo, and says that things got crazy after Rufus left. She explains that Malcolm and Tagoe got arrested thanks to Peck. Enraged, Rufus storms away from Mateo, who looks terrified. Aimee tells Rufus he can’t go looking for them. Rufus raises a fist to punch a car window, but he lowers it—that’s not him, even if he messed up and hit Peck. Rufus asks if Aimee broke up with Peck, but Aimee says it’s complicated. Rufus says it’s not complicated; Aimee should be loyal to the Plutos and should ditch the guy who put her friends in jail. Rufus says he has to get back to his real friend and hangs up, but Mateo is gone.
Again, now that Rufus knows for sure that he’s dying, he understands the importance of making choices that allow him to be who he wants to be while he still has the chance. Further, he’s starting to understand the consequences of not tempering his aggressive emotions—he might lose Mateo if he doesn’t outwardly manifest the kind person he knows he is inside. In order to be at peace with his last day and not spend it alone, Rufus has to put his best self forward, even though it’s understandably hard to do so.
Themes
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