What is Luigi hat?

Mateo’s Luigi hat symbolically represents Future Mateo. When deciding on his profile picture for Last Friend, he decides that the “boy-goofing-around-in-the-Luigi-hat” is exactly the person who he always wanted to be and uses that as his profile picture (46). In the Luigi hat, he appears “loose, fun, [and] carefree” (46). Although when he posts the picture, he sees this as everything he wishes he could be, by the end of the novel Mateo morphs into the very person who the Luigi hat represented. He becomes more courageous and has fun living life on his End Day. The symbol comes full circle when at the end of the novel, Rufus puts the Luigi hat on Mateo and snaps pictures of him smiling. Putting the cap on Mateo, Rufus captures Future Mateo, “exactly the person who [he] always wanted to be” (46).