Most of the film Donnie Darko depicts a teenage boy living in a tangent universe, and is shown what will happen if he survives a jet engine falling from the sky and landing in his room. In an early scene in the movie Frank calls Donnie out of his room and tells him the world is going to end, meanwhile, if Donnie hadn't gone out to see Frank he would have died had he not left the house, because of a giant jet engine that crashed into his house that night. This is the first scene in the tangent universe, and the first step in Donnie seeing what would happen to the people around him if he didn't die. In a later scene Frank tells Donnie Darko to flood the school, one more event leading up to Donnie's understanding of what the tangent universe is. The event creates a lot of turmoil in the school, and even causes a teacher to be fired, and the schools core curriculum to be changed, even though they never find out it was Donnie who did it. As the tangent Universe progresses, Donnie starts to understand what exactly the point of all this is, and is starting to show evidence that he knows he has to die. Especially in a scene where he spea
ks out against Jim Cunningham "You're actually, I'm pretty scared, and I'm pretty troubled, and I'm pretty confused, but, and I'm afraid, really afraid, but I think your a fucking Antichrist." (Donnie Darko) Jim Cunningham is a fraud, and Donnie can already tell, but that doesn't mean Jim is wrong in calling Donnie out, the fact is Donnie is afraid, afraid of what Frank is telling him he has to do.

"What do you know about time travel?... Every living thing follows a set path,  and if you could see your path or channel and then you could see your path" (Donnie Darko) Donnie Darko does spend some time trying to resist the fact that he has to die, and is shown asking questions about time travel and wormholes. ""When is this gonna stop?" "You should already know that, watch the movie screen, I want to show you something. Have you ever seen a portal ? Burn it to the ground." (Donnie Darko) Meanwhile the events of the tangent universe continue, and Donnie Darko is told by Frank to burn Jim Cunningham's' house to the ground. Toward the end of the movie however, it is evident that Donnie now knows the purpose of all that has been happening, and shows that he is ready to die. "I promise, that one day, everything is going to be better for you!" Donnie tells the young Chinese girl at his school, who is so ostracized and ridiculed by the other students at the school, showing his undertanding of how lonely she is, and sympathy towards her because of how lonely he is, and expecting things to be better for himself when he dies.When the world ends.