This Is Where It Ends

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.