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
Dante writes to Ari and says that for every seven letters that he writes, Ari writes one. He threatens to drown Ari this summer and then revive him with mouth-to-mouth. Dante says that he’s been kissing a girl, but the girl thinks that he’s mentally kissing someone else. She asked if he’s kissing a girl or a boy. Dante responded that he’s kissing an imaginary boy. Now, he and the girl are friends and the girl admitted that she was kissing Dante to make another guy jealous. Dante says that he’s bored with the rich Chicago kids and wants to go home to El Paso.
Dante’s letter may or may not be entirely truthful (it’s likely that he’s thinking of Ari and just doesn’t want to admit it, either to this girl or to Ari), but it gets the point across that he’s becoming surer of his sexuality, if not comfortable enough to be entirely truthful about it.
Themes
Dante writes that he’s worried what Mrs. Quintana and Mr. Quintana will say when Dante admits that he wants to marry a boy. He won’t be able to give them grandchildren, and he knows that he’s disappointing them and Ari. Dante admits that he’s worried they won’t be friends when he gets back to El Paso. Dante walks through the speech he’d like to give his dad but thinks it sounds too needy. He wonders if he and Ari are too old to play in the street now, and says that Ari doesn’t have to be his friend, but says it’d be weird if they weren’t friends.
Dante’s anxiety about not being able to properly perform adult masculinity shows how constricting being the only son in a Mexican family is for him. He knows that he can’t do it “right,” but his love for his parents makes this far scarier for him than it might be otherwise. Part of his fears also have to do with getting older, since he mentions possibly being too old to play in the street like children.
Themes
