64 pages • 2 hours read
Marieke NijkampThis Is Where It Ends
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2016A 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.
Symbols & Motifs
Dance
Throughout This Is Where It Ends, the motif of dance represents freedom, and central relationships and conflicts hinge on Amber’s love of dance, inherited from her mother, a former famous ballerina with the Royal Ballet. Amber's relationship to dance effects different characters in different ways. This love of dance drives a wedge between Autumn and Tyler. Their mother died on the way to pick up Autumn from ballet class, and Tyler cannot let this fact go. While dance brings Sylv and Autumn closer together, it also drives the two apart, since Tyler’s anger at their close relationship is a critical element behind his motives. Though Sylv has already been accepted to Brown University, she’s devoted to helping Autumn get into Juilliard, as Autumn believes the audition equals a ticket out of Opportunity, Alabama, and away from her broken family. By the close of novel, dance represents lost dreams and death, for Autumn loses her chances at attending Juilliard when Tyler shoots her in the knee, before taking his own life.
Diversity
Fareed, Tomas, and Sylv stand as symbols of diversity in This Is Where It Ends. Fareed’s actions and speech prove his courage and poise. That Fareed, an Afghani-American, is the only Muslim student at Opportunity High, coupled with Tomas and Sylv’s Hispanic heritage, signifies Nijkamp’s desire to create an inclusive portrait featuring characters from less-represented backgrounds portrayed in courageous roles.
Several times in This Is Where It Ends, Sylv reflects on family stories and teachings her grandfather once told. In the opening pages, Sylv recalls one night when she was caring for her mother and Sylv's mother told Sylv “the stories that wove our family around her” (7). This quote matches the way This Is Where It Ends is structured, as various stories weave around the day’s events, one around another. While these arcs remain less developed, they indicate Nijkamp’s intentions of creating an inclusive story that expands in diverse directions. It is essential to note the conventions pushed upon Sylv in her own family, as well as by Tyler. In that way, Sylv and her relationship with Autumn represents diversity in the face of convention.
Othello
The few times characters mention Shakespeare’s play Othello in This Is Where It Ends suggest the play's place as a minor yet important symbol. Othello explores motives of revenge and love, two elements central to the conflicts between Tyler, Claire, Autumn, Sylv, and Tomas.
Before Autumn confronts Tyler onstage, Tyler calls out her name, giving incentive for Autumn’s decision. It's then Autumn recalls seeing Othello with Tyler the day of their mother’s funeral, and that afterwards Tyler drove Autumn to the river to watch the sunset. Here, Nijkamp uses Othello as a means for Autumn to empathize with her brother, and characterizes Tyler as human, and capable of tender moments. Later, once Autumn confronts Tyler she implores Tyler to recall that trip: “Remember when we went to see Othello last year? […] The sky was perfectly clear, and everything was peaceful. It was the first time in a year I felt safe. You gave me that. You saved me” (153). It’s a moment when Tyler can decide to stop or keep going, and Tyler continues his quest for revenge. Nijkamp uses Othello as a correlative to define the larger motives at play between characters in This Is Where It Ends.
