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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in This Is Where It Ends, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Gun Violence
Community and Tragedy
Family and Sibling Relationships
Change, Uncertainty, and Growing Up
Abuse
Summary
Analysis
The crack of a starter gun rings out, and several teenage runners spring around the track. Even though it’s the middle of winter in Opportunity, Alabama, Claire Morgan spends the frosty morning practicing outside with the rest of her track team. Still, she’d rather be running drills with Coach Lindt than listening to the boring and predicable speech that Principal Trenton repeats at the start of each new semester. This morning at breakfast, Claire recited the speech from memory to amuse her younger brother Matt.
The immediate reference to the starter gun creates tension by referring to the shooting that’s about to happen, but at the same time, this abrupt noise is just an ordinary part of the school day. This contradiction suggests that the day’s events both violate Opportunity’s norms and come from factors deep within that very community.
Themes
Principal Trenton loves to repeat the school’s motto: We Shape the Future. But Claire is unsure about her future, and says, “if Opportunity shaped me, I didn’t notice.” In fact, it’s only while running that Claire feels totally at ease. Suddenly her foot slips and another runner catches up with her and makes fun of her for getting out of shape over Christmas break. Chris is not only Claire’s best friend but also the team’s star runner and one of the most popular boys in school. Running together, they leave the rest of the team behind and fall into step with each other.
At the novel’s outset, Claire doesn’t feel that her time in high school has affected her; her alienation from her community is front and center. By the end of the day, however, her relationship to Opportunity will change significantly. Although Claire describes Chris as her best friend, her remark that he’s one of the most popular and respected boys in school suggests that she’s a little intimidated by him, too.
Themes
Meanwhile, Tomás is inside Principal Trenton’s office, rifling through her drawers. He’s already lined his teacher’s desk drawers with superglue to create a distraction and escape the student assembly. But now he’s running out of time, and his best friend Fareed elbows him and gestures that someone is outside. For a minute, Fareed and Tomás crouch in tense silence, wondering how they can explain their presence here. The footsteps stop outside the office door, but after a few long minutes they start up again, and the boys let out their breath.
Tomás’s first appearance casts him firmly as an experienced troublemaker, but eventually his unconventional behavior will help him save other students. Both he and Tyler rebel against the school’s expectations for good behavior, but while Tyler does so in a malicious way that is harmful for others, Tomás always has his sister or his friends in mind.
Themes
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Inside Opportunity High’s auditorium, Autumn is listening to Principal Trenton’s speech. The principal tells the students that the choices they make now will determine their entire futures, so they should think hard about who they want to be. As Trenton looks over the crowd, Autumn feels that she can see everyone’s “hopes” and “heartbreaks;” when the principal’s gaze reaches her, she blushes and looks at the seat to her right, which is empty. Her brother is supposed to be sitting there, but he’s nowhere to be found.
Claire finds the principal’s speech meaningless in part because she has no idea who she wants to be. For Autumn, who has more definitive ideas about the future, the speech is a call to action. Even though both girls might be skeptical of the principal’s platitudes, it’s clear that Trenton nonetheless represents the school that has sheltered them for so many years.
Themes
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Sitting at Autumn’s left, Autumn’s girlfriend Sylvia points out the lack of originality in the principal’s speech. Stung, Autumn points out that everyone really does want to be their best selves, but Autumn is actually grumpy because she knows Sylvia will be accepted to any college she applies to, while Autumn’s future is much more uncertain.
Throughout the novel, Autumn and Sylvia each view the other’s future as more secure and worry about the other instigating a breakup of their relationship, but they don’t discuss these concerns with each other. This pattern shows how lack of communication can create tensions within a relationship.
Themes
Autumn is determined to study dance after high school, but her Dad won’t pay for it, not after the accident that claimed her Mom’s life. Her father says that “dance took everything” from his wife, and now there’s no one to stop him from crushing Autumn’s dreams, drinking too much, or even hitting her. In her mind, Autumn can hear her brother Tyler’s voice, saying that “it’s up to [Autumn] to make [her] future the best it can be.” Autumn would rather just leave town.
Autumn’s home life is a source of tragedy; instead of supporting her aspirations her father attempts to quash them. It’s clear that he sees Autumn not as a person but as an outlet for his own rage and grief. While Autumn thinks of Tyler as a supportive brother now, flashbacks will show later in the novel that this is actually far from the case.
Themes
Sylvia looks at the empty seat next to Autumn as well. She’s relieved that Tyler isn’t going to come to school, and feels safe for the first time all day. Still, she doesn’t ask Autumn about him; today is the second anniversary of her mother’s accident and she’s preoccupied with grief that she won’t share with anyone, even Sylvia. These days, it’s only when she thinks no one is watching that Autumn dances as freely and joyfully as she used to. Sylvia wishes she could watch Autumn dance forever, but she knows that Autumn is going to flee town and leave her behind “as soon as she can.”
Already, it’s clear that Sylvia and Autumn have highly divergent views of Tyler: Autumn misses him and worries about his whereabouts, while Sylvia seems afraid of him and is glad he’s skipped school. This contradiction suggests that Tyler presents very different sides of his character to different people in his life.
Themes
While Autumn is neglected by her family, Sylvia is forced to adopt outsize responsibility within hers due to her mother’s illness.
Themes
Throughout the novel, social media will be an important vein of communication between those trapped inside the school and those waiting outside for news.
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