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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
When the knocks from the other side of the door complete the rhythm he started, Tomás realizes that his sister is there. He regrets that he and Sylvia have barely talked all year, breaking apart after years of being partners in crime. Sylvia had been becoming more serious ever since their Mamá got sick, but Tomás feels that her behavior truly changed last summer. Sylvia starts tapping out another song, but a shot interrupts her.
Tomás is still puzzled by Sylvia’s withdrawal, but in fact it’s Tyler’s assault that has strained all her relationships. In a way, Tyler reacts to the decline of his relationship with Autumn by trying to undermine Sylvia’s bond with Tomás.
Themes
In frustration, Tomás decides to abandon the paperclips and hammer the lock until it breaks. Just as he’s about to start, Fareed stops him, saying that there are sirens in the distance and they should keep quiet until the police arrive. He’s opened up some of the doors to the outside, and now Tomás takes the bolt cutters and pushes down with all his might on the metal chain that blocks the auditorium door.
Unlike Tomás, Fareed understands the limits of his own abilities and responsibilities; he shows that growing up doesn’t just mean taking heroic action but also recognizing one’s role within a larger community.
Themes
Claire can hear confusing dispatches over the police car’s transmitter. A road block is being set up and SWAT teams are coming in from other towns. Claire can’t believe that all of this is real, much less that her own brother is inside the building. She doesn’t even know what to say to Chris, who’s staring at his hands next to her. Hoping that at least part of her plan succeeded, she asks the police if they received a call from the track team, but the officer says that they were alerted by several students inside the building. Claire asks for more information, but the officer says she’s not supposed to talk about it. Chris says that they just want to know if their friends are safe.
The police officer’s revelation puts an end to Claire’s feeling that she and Chris were uniquely positioned and responsible for raising the alarm. They feel that the police are preventing them from taking a more active role in the rescue operation, but in fact they’re probably distracting from that operation by focusing on their own anxiety and desire to do something heroic. This moment shows how their understanding of responsibility is still somewhat immature.
Themes
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Sylvia is torn between hope that Tomás will help and fear for his safety. She can’t imagine the pain of losing both Autumn and her twin, the closest of her many siblings. She has to believe that Tyler can’t destroy her entire life, even as she watches Autumn walking towards “certain death.” She wonders if she could have stopped this by speaking up earlier about being assaulted by Tyler.
While it’s obviously not Sylvia’s responsibility to anticipate Tyler’s crimes, her reflection suggests that Tyler’s earlier actions—namely, his attack on her—aren’t unpleasant incidents to be ignored, but rather serious issues that deserve recognition and justice and can spiral further out of control if left unaddressed.
Themes
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In a flashback, Sylvia remembers the fateful night of junior prom, when Tyler “demanded” to dance with her. When she rebuffs him, he follows her outside and tells her not to “deny” that she wants him; then he grabs her and threatens to hurt her if she doesn’t stay away from Autumn. Sylvia has to kick him to extricate herself. He reminds her of the people in her grandmother’s stories who are possessed by evil spirits and doomed to be destroyed by darkness.
Tyler’s actions seem unusually aggressive, but in fact they reflect ideas that society often tacitly accepts: that men are entitled to pursue women who have no interest in them, and that women are somehow responsible for inviting unwanted sexual attention.
Themes
Staring down at Matt in the present, Tyler tells him that he has “a score to settle with [his] sister,” as well as with his own. More loudly, Autumn calls out to him again; her brother looks at her with contempt, taunting her that it’s rude to shout across the room. Bracing herself, she walks closer to her brother, now a stranger who raises his gun at her.
Tyler’s threat suggests that he has as acute an appreciation of sibling ties as Autumn and Sylvia do, but he uses this appreciation to cause people pain through their siblings, not to empathize with them.
Themes
In a flashback, Autumn remembers Tyler’s announcement of his decision to return to OHS. Speaking formally and stiffly to their Dad, he says that he “needed time to evaluate” but is ready to resume his education. Their father nods approvingly and tells him that he’s dealing with his problems head-on, like a man. Bitterly, Autumn reflects that her father is doing the opposite, ignoring all his problems with the help of alcohol. He always calls Tyler “son” but never extends any of the same warmth to her. Neither Autumn nor her father could have realized what Tyler was planning.
Neither Mr. Browne nor Tyler actually deals with their problems “head-on.” Mr. Browne escapes his grief through alcoholism, while Tyler seeks to soothe his rage with violence. While Mr. Browne mentions Tyler’s masculinity as a compliment by saying that he’s “like a man,” he’s inadvertently pointing out patterns of male entitlement and aggression, which he models and Tyler perpetuates through his own actions.
Themes
Tyler shoots at the air over Autumn’s head and warns her to keep walking, or he will shoot Matt. She steps over the body of another student and reaches the stage, where several teachers lie dead or injured. Aghast, she asks her brother why he is doing this; seeming “devoid of feeling,” he grabs her by the hair and asks why she didn’t listen to him. He accuses her of thinking she’s better than him and abandoning her family for her girlfriend, Sylvia. Crying, Autumn replies that she loves him. Tyler smiles, and the familiar expression is heartbreaking to her.
Autumn continues to empathize with her brother even though he’s actively threatening her and her friends. Her capacity for compassion contrasts with his complete inability to enter into the feelings of others, and his insistence on viewing his sister’s life and aspirations as secondary to his own.
Themes
Matt conceives of Claire as a hero who can do anything, but in fact her agency as an untrained teenager is very limited.
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