Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Identity, Ethnicity, and Masculinity
Silence and Trauma vs. Communication
Family and Coming of Age
Intellectualism and Emotion vs. Physical Strength
Summary
Analysis
Dad wakes Ari up early and says that they’re going to Tucson. He hands Ari a cup of coffee and they step outside so Dad can smoke. Dad says that bowling was fun; both he and Mr. Quintana are horrible at it. After a minute, Dad says that Aunt Ophelia had a stroke and is dying. Ari remembers that he lived with Ophelia for a year when he was small. She never married and wasn’t connected to the rest of the extended family, but she laughed often and knew how to make Ari feel loved. Dad calls Ari back to attention, and when Ari shares his thoughts, Dad says that Ari didn’t want to come home from Ophelia’s. Ari says that he loves Ophelia more than his other relatives, and Dad says that Ophelia and Mom wrote each other weekly for years.
Losing Aunt Ophelia impresses upon Ari that the people he loves aren’t going to be around forever, and if he wants to make sure that people understand how he feels about them, he needs to communicate that to them. It appears that, to a degree, Dad is experiencing the same realization. This is why Dad begins to share that Mom and Ophelia wrote each other so much. Further, Dad starts to become more of a well-rounded person in Ari’s eyes as he talks about bowling and the fun he had, as it begins to separate Dad out from just being a parent.
Themes
Dad asks if Ari can have the Quintanas watch Legs. Mrs. Quintana agrees immediately. Ari thinks she sounds happier and wonders if it’s because she’s going to have the baby. Dante calls a minute later. He offers condolences for Aunt Ophelia, but is excited to get Legs. They discuss that Mrs. Quintana is suspicious about Ari and Dante’s activities last night. A bit later, Dad and Ari drop Legs off and have coffee. They joke about how Mexican Dante is, and then everyone but Dad laughs that Dante is going to let Legs chew his shoes. They all laugh when Legs walks in with a shoe.
The way that Ari and Dante interact with Legs shows that the dog functions as a mirror for how the boys really feel about things. Legs is loving and affectionate in a way that Dante is, and that Ari wants to be on some level, while chewing Dante’s shoe shows that Dante hasn’t truly moved on yet from his war on shoes. It’s also possible to see Ari maturing here as he thinks about how happy Mrs. Quintana looks. Like Dad, she’s becoming more of a person to him.
Themes
