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
The afternoon after the second day of school, a girl named Ileana writes her name on Ari’s casts. She looks into Ari’s eyes as she does. Ari thinks that her eyes seem to hold the entire night sky and decides that there’s a whole world inside of her that he knows nothing about.
Ileana represents opportunity and a kind of relationship that Ari hasn’t experienced before. His suggestion that he knows nothing about her shows that he’s coming of age, as he’s now aware of just how little he knows about other people.
Themes
