64 pages • 2 hours read
This Is Where It Ends
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Chapters 16-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary
Chapter 16, which covers from 10:32 to 10:35 a.m., opens as Tomas realizes Sylv has reached the stage stairs and is approaching Tyler. Tyler shoots at random into the crowd, increasing body count. When Tomas tries to save Sylv, Fareed grabs his arms and stops him. When a girl next to Tomas is shot, her blood splatters on Tomas’s face. “You can’t help […] if you get shot” (183) Fareed says.
The chapter closes as Sylv, after confronting Tyler and making comments about the horror and loneliness of grief, dashes out of the auditorium into Tomas’s arms after Tyler shoots at her. In between, the first students reach safety in the parking lot, as newscasters descend on the scene. Claire wonders if her parents are present and if her brother, Matt is safe. Claire hopes her parents are not there to see how Claire fears she’s not as brave as her sister, Trace, who enlisted in the military.
Chapter 17 Summary
In Chapter 17, which covers from 10:35 to 10: 37 a.m., Tomas, Sylv, and Fareed meet outside the auditorium, while Autumn remains inside, taking charge of efforts to direct students to safety and to try and help the wounded. Tomas recalls pinning Tyler to a locker the previous year, the day after junior prom. Sylv never told Tomas what Tyler did but Tomas knew Tyler hurt Sylv. This chapter also reveals that the day of the altercation was Tyler’s last day at school. Meanwhile, Tyler leaves the auditorium and begins shooting in the hallways. Sylv believes this means Tyler is searching for her.
Outside, among the SWAT teams, parents, and news crews, Claire’s conflicting emotions and sense of responsibility and guilt continue. When Claire sees Mr. Browne, she dashes his way, accusing Mr. Browne of creating Tyler’s troubles: “You ruined him. You ruined him” (195).
Chapter 18 Summary
Chapter 18 covers from 10:37 to 10:39 a.m. Claire borrows a cell phone and reaches her brother, Matt, in the auditorium. Matt tells Claire that Tyler’s left the auditorium, providing critical information for the SWAT teams. Autumn takes Matt’s phone and apologizes. This moment characterizes Claire’s empathy and provides Autumn with the opportunity, in Autumn's eyes, to help the people stuck in the auditorium. However, some students question why Autumn did not already try to stop Tyler. Meanwhile, Fareed suggests he, Sylv, and Tomas barricade themselves in a classroom and then try to reach the emergency exits to the roof. Tomas realizes, “together, we’ll survive this […] This is where it ends” (205).
Meanwhile, Sylv despairs about leaving Autumn behind. The chapter closes with Sylv’s memories, as she recalls a few days before Thanksgiving the previous year, when she, Tomas, and her abuelo, their grandfather, threw Autumn a surprise birthday. This was the first time Sylv kissed Autumn.
Chapters 16-18 Analysis
By breaking chapters into two- and three-minute moments, Nijkamp carves out space in the narrative to explore the interior landscapes of Tomas, Sylv, Autumn, and Claire.
By separating Tomas and Sylv from Autumn in these chapters, Nijkamp expands the novel and it exists in three spaces at once: with Autumn in the auditorium; Sylv, Tomas, and Fareed in the hallways; and Claire and Chris in the parking lot.
As with previous chapters, Nijkamp further explores the arc of Autumn and Sylv’s relationship. These chapters present new information, as for the first time it becomes clear that Tomas never knew for sure whether or not Tyler hurt his sister. The incident where Tyler attacks Sylv, and Tomas then pins Tyler to a locker for this act, explains the night before Tyler’s last day at Opportunity High. In this way, Nijkamp further characterizes Tyler’s motives, and presents backstory that suggests a large number of people have somehow contributed to the shooting.
Included in these chapters are moments and imagery that force students to bond in uncommon ways. For example, a linebacker on the football team leans on a mathlete, as the two exit the school. The first two-thirds of This Is Where It Ends explores the immediate moments following the chaos of a school shooting. These chapters set the stage for exploring the moments after a shooting. At play is community organization, student bravery, and the question of what moral responsibility do we have to one another before a shooting, as much as the question of what to do afterwards.
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