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
Ari hangs out at the library and looks at microfilms of the El Paso Times, searching for Bernardo. He gives up after an hour and a half. He thinks about writing Dante, but looks up Nighthawks in a book instead. Ari feels like he’s looking in a mirror, but it doesn’t make him sad.
Nighthawks shows people in a diner at night. The dark, melancholic atmosphere of the painting shows Ari him that he’s not alone or at fault for liking solitude—he just needs to be able to communicate about it, as Hopper did when he created the painting in the first place.
Themes
