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
When Ari gets home from school, there are two letters from Dante on his bed. He hates that Mom knows about the letters. Dante writes that he loves Chicago. It’s diverse, which is great, but his parents won’t let him ride public transit at night. Mr. Quintana likes his job, and Mrs. Quintana is writing a book about addiction and young people. Dante’s friends are okay. He’s been going to parties, drinking, and trying marijuana. He asks Ari if he’s experimented with substances yet. Dante writes that he heard his parents talking and if Mr. Quintana is offered a job, they’re going to turn it down because of Dante. Dante knows that he’s going to disappoint his parents, so he doesn’t want them organizing their lives around him. He says that he cut his hair, misses Ari, and swims every day.
Dante’s insistence that he doesn’t want to disappoint his parents suggests that even if he’s relatively sure of who he is, he still craves outside approval. This means that he’s going to be more at risk and more anxious about who he is, because he’ll look for validation from sources that may or may not be good places to ask. Worrying about his parents in particular shows that Dante values his relationships with his parents and their openness, but he’s afraid that coming out to them will put that at risk.
Themes
In the next letter, Dante writes that he’s going to lots of parties. Mrs. Quintana is suspicious since Dante comes home smelling like cigarettes. On Friday night, Dante went to a party and decided he didn’t like beer. He talked to a pretty girl named Emma, who kissed him. He liked it. Dante says that he’s still thinking about her, but he’s not sure about all of this.
Mrs. Quintana’s ability to sniff out the cigarettes suggests that Dante might not be able to hide all of his experimentations, whether they’re with substances or with people. His open relationship with his parents means that they’ll likely detect changes, meaning that Dante can’t hide behind silence like Ari does.
Themes
