Family and Sibling Relationships Theme Analysis

Some families in This Is Where It Ends are characterized by generally positive relationships: Claire takes pride in caring for her younger brother, Matt, while the twins Sylvia and Tomás have a fraught but close relationship. Elsewhere, the dynamic is less healthy: Autumn sees her brother Tyler as a loving defense against her abusive Dad, but as the novel progresses Tyler reveals himself as violent and predatory towards her as well. Despite the differences in their family situations, the love between Sylvia and Tomás is a strong parallel to the bond between Autumn and Tyler; while Sylvia gains new respect for her brother because of his brave actions, Autumn continues to love her own brother despite his crimes. Ultimately, the novel argues that regardless of personal character or flaws, sibling bonds are among the most formative and inescapable of human relationships.

Each of the novel’s four protagonists is deeply grounded in the particular struggles of his or her family. The dynamic in Claire’s family is highly positive. She has two living parents and untroubled relationships with her older sister Tracy, currently serving in the military, and younger brother, Matt. Much of the family’s life revolves around caring for Matt, who has Lupus, but this challenge ties the family together rather than weakening its bonds.

Living on a farm, Sylvia and Tomás’s family is of humbler origins. Their father is absent, and their Mamá is suffering from a degenerative brain disease. Still, their older brothers and Abuelo help keep everything running, and Sylvia is thankful for their support and acceptance of her girlfriend, Autumn.

Autumn and her brother, Tyler, are still reeling from their Mom’s death a year earlier. Since this tragedy their father has become an abusive alcoholic, leaving them to fend for themselves. While Autumn loves her older brother and considers him her prime support in this time of trouble, it becomes increasingly clear that he is trying to control her life and even behaves violently himself.

Throughout the novel, Sylvia and Tomás’s evolving relationship shows how sibling ties can define one’s life in a positive way. At the beginning of the novel, the twins’ relationship is distanced and fraught, as Sylvia has been shutting her brother out since being raped by Tyler the previous summer. Still, both siblings fondly remember their previous closeness and the mischief they make together. As the shooting unfolds, both siblings’ actions are motivated by concern for the other: Sylvia is thankful that Tomás has escaped imprisonment in the auditorium while he risks his life to unchain the doors and free her, proclaiming that if Tyler hurts his sister, he will “kill him slowly.” By the end of the novel, Sylvia has explained the trauma that disrupted their relationship and the twins reconcile before Tomás sacrifices his life for her, distracting Tyler so that Sylvia can escape.

Although Autumn’s relationship with her brother is not nearly so positive, it’s equally defining and precious to her. Like the twins, Autumn and Tyler are two siblings close in age. Autumn, like Sylvia, is devoted to her brother and relies on him for support. As does Tomás, Tyler claims to love his sister more than anyone else, but unlike Tomás he actively sabotages her dreams in order to keep her with him, and ultimately embarks on a killing spree because he feels she doesn’t love him enough. Despite this troubling dynamic, during the shooting Autumn confronts her brother, not just to save her friends but to prevent him from committing further crimes for his own sake. Her desperate speeches show the love she still has for him, even though he’s a murderer. And though Tyler shoots his sister in the knee just before he kills himself—a spiteful action to make sure she can’t ever dance again—Autumn is still distraught that he’s dead. The image of her weeping over his dead body mirrors Sylvia mourning for Tomás and shows that sibling relationships remain strong and defining even when they’re definitively unhealthy.

The different characters’ trajectories show that sibling relationships can draw a family together or tear it apart. Whether they are positive or negative, these relationships remain equally central and compelling to all the characters.