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
While Ari is home alone, he opens the drawer with Bernardo’s file in it. He wants to open it and wonders if it’ll set him free if he does. He thinks that he wants Mom to hand it to him and wonders if he wants too much.
What Ari seems to understand here is that the knowledge itself won’t set him free. What might is the relationship he’ll build with his parents, if and when they choose to speak to him about Bernardo.
Themes
