88 pages • 2 hours read
Adam SilveraThey Both Die at the End
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
Inescapable Mortality and Living Without Regret
Mateo undergoes a transformation over the course of the novel. In the beginning, he is someone who hides from life, choosing to spend his days playing video games tucked away in the safety of his bedroom. Ironically, Mateo doesn’t live until he knows that he will die, and on his End Day, with the help of Rufus, Mateo finds the courage to live in a way that makes him proud. The novel speaks to the idea that the greatest tragedy is not to die, but to die with regrets over a life that was not lived to the fullest.
Mateo’s impulse to stay safe has prevented him from experiencing life to the fullest. In Chapter 17, Mateo notes that the bird who died “dared to leave his home at least” (95). Unlike that bird, Mateo initially feels as though he has never broken out of his shell—he is trapped in a narrow existence, where he is safe but limited to the confines of his father’s apartment. Mateo is not honest with others or himself, especially about his sexuality. In Chapter 24, Rufus encourages Mateo to let go of his tendency to overthink and to embrace living in the moment: “He’s right. I am doing this to myself […] I’m at the finish line, but I never ran the race” (136).
However, Mateo’s reasons for wanting to live a small, safe existence are not wholly unjustified. When Mateo observes Penny, just a toddler, he is understanding that it is not possible for everyone to live life to the fullest: “This is Penny’s beginning. And one day she’ll find herself on the terrible end of a Death-Cast call and it sucks how we’re all being raised to die. Yes, we live, or we’re given the chance to, at least, but sometimes living it’s hard and complicated because of fear” (150). Life is difficult, especially for those who are disadvantaged due to economic or social status, and many of the characters in the novel come from complicated backgrounds.
Still, with Rufus’ guidance and encouragement, Mateo lives his final day with tenacity and finds himself along the way. Part 3 of the novel is called “The Beginning,” emphasizing that Mateo’s life has finally begun, after spending time with Rufus and learning to put himself out there. By Chapter 38, Mateo is hungry for more experiences: “I want to climb every last mountain, row down every last river, explore every last cave” (205). By Chapter 65, Mateo has the courage to make a bold move on Rufus, in the name of love and passion: “I kiss the guy who brought me to life on the day we’re going to die” (308). Though the title of the novel initially reads as an ironic spoiler, it highlights that the details of Rufus and Mateo’s journeys over the course of the day are the point of the novel, not the fact that they die.
Connection and Isolation in a Changing Society
Much like present-day society, social media’s influence looms large in the universe of the novel. However, the novel does not criticize or praise social media as inherently “good” or “bad”; instead, social media is portrayed agnostically as a tool that can draw people together or drive them apart, depending on the person using it. Along with traditional social media like Instagram and Twitter, the novel features a profusion of new social media outlets, related to Deckers. There is the blog CountDowners, which follows Deckers on their End Days; Veil, which is a video chat app that allows Deckers with bad reception to reach their loved ones far away; and Last Friend, the app that connected Mateo and Rufus. That said, social media in the novel tends to isolate characters; those who find true connections through social media are rare. Mateo mostly uses technology as a buffer between himself and reality, while Rufus uses it to engage more fully with the world around him.
The idea that human connection is important is made evident throughout the novel. The reason Mateo and Rufus joined the app Last Friend was to find companionship on their End Day. Therefore, the desire for human connection forms the foundation of the story, but it is also expressed at many other points throughout the book. On the formation of the Plutos, Rufus reflects on how that companionship was a necessity for all of them, given what they were experiencing in life: “We became the Plutos and that was exactly the kind of company I needed—we were all lost and okay with not being found for a while” (178).
Even minor characters, such as Officer Andrade in Chapter 61, express the importance of connection, especially connecting with those living out their final days: “If you’re close enough to a Decker when they die, you won’t be able to put words to anything for the longest time. But few regret spending every possible minute with them while they were still alive” (293). In Chapter 74, after the Plutos realize they will never see Rufus again, they reflect on their friendship: “You may be born into a family, but you walk into friendships. Some you’ll discover you should put behind you. Others are worth every risk” (334). As society changes with the advent of Death-Cast and the continued rise of social media, the ways of connecting with others changes, but the value in human connection remains as important as ever.
Intersectional, Marginalized Identities
Mateo and Rufus are both people of color—Mateo is Puerto Rican, and Rufus is Cuban. Rufus identifies as and is openly bisexual, but part of Mateo’s transformation over the course of the book involves his own realization that he is not straight. The novel adds to a growing body of work that celebrates protagonists with unique, intersectional identities.
In their profiles in the Last Friend app, Rufus lists his orientation as bisexual, while Mateo skips that part of his profile. The sexual tension between Mateo and Rufus builds slowly but steadily over the course of the book, culminating in Chapter 65 when Mateo kisses Rufus at Clint’s Graveyard. Shortly after, they profess their love for one another. However, by the end of the novel, Mateo does not make any declaration about his sexuality.
Most of the teens in this story come from difficult, troubled backgrounds. Rufus, along with Tagoe, Malcolm, and Aimee, entered the foster care system after tragedies (premature death, imprisonment) separate them from their biological families. Mateo describes Lidia’s apartment building as “the kind of projects where the superintendent sits on the stoop reading a newspaper when there’s clearly more work that can be done—like mopping and sweeping the floor, fixing the blinking lamp in the hallway, and setting up mouse traps” (146). Poverty, crime, and imprisonment shape the lives of the characters and their families as much as Death-Cast.
There are several points throughout the book where Mateo and Rufus refer to the world as being “out to get them” or not “made for them.” Mateo says, “The most important goodbye is the one I said to Past Mateo, who I left behind at home when my Last Friend accompanied me into a world that has it out for us” (227). Whether the world “has it out” for Mateo and Rufus because it is their End Day, because of the color of their skin, or because of their sexual orientation is unclear. The novel, while science fiction, puts LGBT teenagers of color at the center of the story, thereby giving voice to the less-often-heard individuals with intersectional, marginalized identities.
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