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Chapter 4
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
Fareed picks up the principal’s phone and calls 911, while Tomás fights the urge to run straight to the auditorium. He hits a cabinet instead. Calmly, Fareed tells the operator everything he knows about the situation. Tomás is worried that Fareed will be labeled as a suspect, since school officials are often quick to question the Afghan student about problems that have nothing to do with him. Fareed tells the operator where they are, and explains the position of the auditorium. The operator instructs them to leave through the window and wait outside for help.
Like Tomás, Fareed is somewhat of an outsider in the school—but evidently because of his ethnicity, not his own choices. Throughout the novel Fareed will distinguish himself by his quick thinking and calm demeanor, which many of the other students lack. Ultimately, these traits will make him a leader in the community that once looked on him with suspicion and demonstrate how prejudice can blind people to others’ true virtues.
Themes
Frozen with shock, Sylvia can barely hear or understand what’s going on around her. She thinks about her Mamá, incapable of caring for herself, and her Abuelo struggling to keep the family’s farm running. Most of all, she think of the two people most important to her: Tomás and Autumn.
Tyler has tried to tear them all apart, although Sylvia has never told the others about this. Sylvia and Autumn habitually spend the summers hanging out in an abandoned shed, where Autumn dances and Sylvia works on her applications. One day last summer, Tyler accosted Sylvia outside the shed, saying that Autumn isn’t allowed to be there. Sylvia walked away from him, but he caught up and grabbed her, accusing her of taking his sister away from him and “corrupting her.”
While Sylvia and Autumn’s inability to share feelings may seem like a small, everyday issue, in fact it leads an enormous problem: Sylvia has suffered a serious trauma and can’t talk to anyone about it. In these moments the novel shows how negative behaviors, if accepted by society, can soon spiral out of control.
Themes
Sylvia hoped that Autumn heard her brother’s voice and would come out of the shed, but she didn’t. Tyler threw Sylvia to the ground and said that her relationship with Autumn is “a disease,” and that she’s “stealing” his family. Sylvia countered that Tyler doesn’t even care for his own sister. He kicked her in the stomach. Sylvia couldn’t run from him that afternoon, but she’s been trying to “escape” ever since.
Tyler’s deranged rant shows that he considers Autumn a piece of property, a thing that Sylvia has stolen rather than a person who has entered a relationship of her own accord. Throughout these flashbacks, Tyler’s rage is directed primarily at women who refuse to make him the center of their lives. His homophobia toward Sylvia and Autumn’s relationship also shows how societal biases can lead to interpersonal cruelty.
Themes
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Chris thanks Claire for taking charge as they reach the parking lot, looking for Jonah’s patrol car. Jonah, the school security guard, once drove Claire to the hospital during one of Matt’s illnesses, and they’ve become friends. Next to his car, she recognizes Tyler’s car parked across three spaces, and assumes that Tyler and Jonah went looking for jumper cables. She hopes that if Tyler is inside, he will protect her brother.
Initially, it doesn’t even occur to Claire that Tyler could be the shooter. Yet as she grapples with this fact over the course of the book, she’ll start to think of previous moments in her life as hints of his true character. While Claire doesn’t bear responsibility for Tyler’s actions, her reflections will show that his crimes proceed from a pattern of malicious, abusive behavior.
Themes
Claire is disturbed to see that Jonah’s radio has been cut out of the patrol car, and Chris finds ammo boxes in Tyler’s back seat. Looking down, Claire is shocked to find Jonah’s dead body hidden under the car. Chris concludes that Tyler is the shooter.
In this moment, Claire has to process the death of a trusted adult and the revelation that her ex-boyfriend is responsible. Both her faith in Tyler as an individual and her confidence in her community are shaken.
Themes
Autumn knows that people only feel fear when they have “something to lose;” she hasn’t been afraid in a long time, but now she’s about to lose her brother and her girlfriend. She hugs the crying Sylvia and promises to protect her, pulling her into the farthest corner of the room. Tyler closes the one remaining door, produces a padlock, and orders a young student to attach it. Calmly and dramatically, Tyler tells everyone that if they keep calm they won’t “force [him] to waste [his] bullets.”
Ironically, it’s only when her life is at risk that Autumn realizes how much she has to live for. It’s also important to note that Autumn still cares for her brother, even though he is the shooter; this moment shows the strength of sibling love, regardless of individual flaws.
Themes
On Twitter, Jay, the student who skipped school, begs for more information and messages his friend Kevin, asking about his safety.
Even though Jay is physically safe, he’s still extremely emotionally invested in what’s going on at the school, showing the strength of the community’s bonds.
Themes
