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Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text's major themes.
Photos
Photos are used throughout the novel to offer a visual portrait of hope and transformation. In one of the first scenes, Mateo chooses a profile picture for the Last Friend app that represents who he wants to be in the hope it will encourage the transformation in real life. He follows accounts on Facebook that feature photos of cities he never has and never will visit, representing all the ways he was too anxious to participate in his own life. He leaves a photo by his father’s bedside that his dad said showed Mateo at his most joyful. Rufus has an Instagram account to which he posts black and white photos. On their End Day, however, Mateo encourages Rufus to post pictures in color, symbolizing how Rufus is living a more rich and authentic life on his End Day. After they fall in love and declare it to each other, Rufus takes a selfie with Mateo in which Mateo is genuinely happy. Rufus returns to that picture again and again and says he’s glad for the color Mateo gave him on their End Day.
Social Media
Throughout the novel, social media epitomizes the best and worst aspects of human connection. Mateo depends on websites such as CountDowners to substitute for real human interactions and relationships. He becomes emotionally invested in virtual stories without seeking to create his own memories. When searching for someone to spend his End Day with on the Last Friend via the app, Mateo is initially faced with trolls who are trying to exploit dying people for their own desires. In a particularly dark turn of events, Peck uses Instagram to stalk and attempt to kill Rufus at the end of the novel. Social media is also portrayed as a constructive force for bringing people together. It is through the Last Friend app that Mateo and Rufus connect and ultimately fall in love. Dalma, the creator of Last Friend, gets to see Zoe and Gabriella on the subway and hear how Zoe is getting to make the most of her End Day, showing how social media does serve a valuable purpose in society. On a much smaller scale, social media serves to help individuals. Rufus visits Mateo’s dad in the very end and gives him his Instagram username. In that way, Mateo’s dad will have an opportunity to see his son’s End Day and know that he was happy before his death.
Intersecting Lives
Throughout the novel, lives intersect in small but powerful ways. Mateo anonymously helped Kendrick years earlier, and Kendrick’s recognition of the boy who gave him the shoes off his feet results in Mateo not getting hurt or possibly killed before he could declare his love for Rufus. Howie Maldonado is in a limousine when Peck and his gang run by in pursuit of Rufus, resulting in Howie’s death, demonstrating that even the rich and powerful are not immune to death. Delilah denies her Death-Cast alert, thinking it’s a joke, and she’s in the car with Howie when the car crashes. That intersection makes her realize that she can’t take her life for granted, and she calls her ex-fiancé Victor who rushes to be with her. It is implied that it’s Victor’s car that hits Rufus and ends his life. These and other connections throughout the novel emphasize how no one is truly alone and that even the most coincidental interactions or intersections can have major outcomes.
