What Is The Theme Of This Is Where It Ends By Marieke Nijkamp

This is Where It Ends by: Marieke Nijkamp is a great book to read. This book comes from four students' point of views as they are victims of a school shooting. We will follow each character point of views during the shooting. While this book has not been made into a movie, it could very easily be put to music. A successful soundtrack for this book would include some suspenseful songs, since it is about a school shooting and the different backgrounds of the characters in this book
According to commonsense media, this book is a New York Times bestseller. Since the novel takes place in under an hour, the amount of violence is almost unbearable giving the reader few emotional breaks.
To open up this soundtrack, I chose a song that a song would

be the start of it. All the students are doing their own thing, hanging with their friends, and all is good. I picked the song “Good Life” by: OneRepublic. In the lyrics, it says, “When you're happy like a fool/ Let it take you over/ When everything is out/ You gotta take it in” (Good Life 24-27) this fits because Claire is outside happily running on the track with her track friends, Autumn and Sylvia are in their own little world together, and Tomas and Fareed are up to no good which they love doing. Also, this song fits in because all is going good, it is a regular day for them as they make their way into the auditorium for the principal’s yearly lecture. The melody of this song is makes you want to dance, so it gives that happy, cheerful feel to the song.
Next, Tomas and Freed are breaking into the Principles office, this part went with the Judas Priest song “Breakin’ the Law.” This song fits perfectly because it says what the second important part of the book is, Tomas and Fareed are breaking into the office at school to access some files while everyone else is in the auditorium. The beat of this song also gives off the bad ass sound. Also, because the lyrics mainly say “Breakin’ the law/ Breakin’ the law.” (Breakin’ the Law 5-8). Fareed is over by the door to look out, while Tomas is looking for Tyler’s file. Tomas only broke into the files to find information about Tyler to make sure that he was not a criminal and to keep his sister Sylvia safe from Tyler and whatever he can do to her or anyone. By the looks of Tyler’s file, Tomas discovers that even if she makes threat towards anyone or is a “maggot” that he was the smartest kind, a harmless one. This song ties into this part because they are not supposed to be in there so they are technically breaking the law by getting into the principals files.
This is when the book starts getting to the main part.

I picked the song “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People. This song is about a school shooting, some people associate this song with the Columbine shooting incident that happened in April 20, 1999. While all the students were in the auditorium, Tyler went around and chained up all the doors that led back out to the hallway besides the one he used to get inside the adoration. Tyler is making comments stating he is thirsty, he then says, “All I ever asked for was a chance. A chance like you gave him or her” (Nijkamp 96). As shots were fired, students began to panic and run, in the song Pumped Up Kicks, the lyrics stated: “All the other kids with the pumped up kicks/ you better run/ better run, outrun my gun/ all the other kids with the pumped up kicks/ you better run, better run, faster than my bullet.” (Pumped up Kicks 11-14) With the students and teachers locked up in the auditorium, Tyler was at an advantage. Everyone was an easy target, especially the teachers up on stage and the students who were close enough in perfect firing range. This song also fits in with this part because everyone in the auditorium has no clue what is going on or why Tyler is committing this act of violence towards

them.
Out of all the students Tyler was killing, he was mainly searching for one person. His sister Autumn. The song I picked for this next one is “Blood on My Hands” by The Used. In this song, the artist states: “You felt the coldness in my eyes, / and something I'm not revealing. / though you got used to my disguise, / you can't shed this awful feeling.” (Blood on My Hands 10-13). Even though the title of the song has to do with blood, but this part of the book Autumn walks up to the stage and considers Tyler’s eyes and realizes that this Tyler is not the Tyler she grew up with who cared about her and would never hurt anyone. She could feel the coldness when she considered him and realized that he was different, that he was no longer the brother she once had. Tyler says, “Lies! They [his parents] all left me. I wanted to be part of your life, and you pushed me away too. It’s too late to regret now.” (Nijkamp, 147). This song ties back into this because this song pretty much states that the other person does not understand what the singer is going through.
While Tyler was busy talking to his sister and making her feel awful for leaving him and destroying their family. Tomas and Fareed had busted open the locks and was motioning students out the doors quietly. Sylvia was in the gym trying to guide the students in the chairs out of the auditorium, so they could make it out to safety. While doing this, Tyler spotted Sylvia and began firing at her, she managed to make it out of the auditorium. Tomas, Fareed, and Sylvia began to run because Tyler was now after Sylvia. The song I picked for this part would be “Hunt You Down” by: Ruby Friedman. I picked this song because in the song the lyrics say: “You can run/ you can hide/ you can pray/ But I'm gonna cut you down” (Hunt You Down 9-10). With the sound of this song, it gives off the vibe that someone is literally hunting for someone or something. It has that eerie, creepy vibe. I think this song will fit this part because Tyler is chasing them because he wants to kill Sylvia, so Tomas, Fareed, and Sylvia are running as fast as they can to get away from Tyler. They end up hiding in a science room, but Tyler is committed to finding Sylvia. He finds them in that room and Tomas tells Fareed to take Sylvia on the roof to protect her. The beat of this song gives off that feel that someone is coming after you, so with that beat, it intensifies the part of this book.
Autumn realizes where Tyler was heading and follows him up to the science room they were all heading to. The song I chose for this part is “So Far Away” by: Avenged Sevenfold. Even though this song is about committing suicide, it fits in with loosing someone. At this moment, it is just Tyler and Tomas standing face to face. Tomas is going on to Tyler how he will always protect his sister, especially from him. The next thing Sylvia hears from the roof was a gunshot and Tyler saying, “I win.” Autumn finally makes it up to the room, where she finds Tyler and Tomas body. Tyler was shocked to see his sister up there. Autumn is trying to tell Tyler to give it up and that the SWAT team are downstairs. He pulls the trigger, the gun was pointing at her knee, which shatters it and Autumn never has a chance at dancing again. The next thing Autumn remembers was Tyler turns the gun on himself and says, “I just don’t want to be alone anymore.” And then he blows his brains out. In the lyrics of this song it says. “A final song/ a last request/ a perfect chapter laid to rest/ rest/ Know and then I try to find a place in my mind/ where you can stay you can stay awake forever.” (So Far Away 15-18) I chose this because Autumn just watched her only brother kill himself. Even though he had done a lot of things wrong, he will always have a place in her mind.
To wrap this all up, everyone at school later gathers together with those lantern balloons, each student writes a name down for someone they lost.

Some write down people they never met before, some write down their friend’s name, and a few write down the name of a sibling. The song I used for the closing of this album and is a national heart touching song will be, “In the Arms of an Angel” by Sarah McLachlan. I chose this song because these students have gone through something that will completely change their lives and lost a lot of teachers and students. I feel like these lyrics, “In the arms of an angel/ fly away from here” (Arms of An Angel 13-14) and “You’re in the arms of the angel/ May you find some comfort here” (Arms of An Angel 19-20). It fits because the all have lost loved ones and even if some of them were a bit crazy, they are in a better place in the comfort of an

angel.
Even though I named 4 characters that told their view points, Claire wasn’t at the school at the time of the shooting, but she did hear the shots and lost people she loved and cared for – including her brother. This is my album I have created for the book: This is Where It Ends by: Marieke Nijkamp. If you have not read this book, I highly recommend it.