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 knows Julian Enriquez. They played baseball together in grade school, but they never liked each other. He drives to Julian’s house and his little sister tells Ari that Julian works at Mr. Rodriguez’s body shop and gets off at 5:00. Ari drives around and lurks at the shop. Mr. Rodriguez knows Dad, and Ari doesn’t want to deal with the questions. When he sees Julian leave, Ari waves him over and lets him look at the truck. He pictures Julian beating Dante and pictures himself beating Julian. Ari grabs Julian by the neck and tells him to get in. Julian punches at Ari, and Ari beats Julian until people pull him away.
The way that Julian interacts with Ari up until Ari begins to beat him indicates that Julian likely doesn’t suspect that Ari is gay too. The way that Ari presents himself and interacts with others makes it seem as though he embodies the traditional, acceptable image of young adult masculinity. However, beating Julian also begins another cycle of silence and violence, which suggests that this is another step back for Ari’s development.
Themes
Mr. Rodriguez incredulously asks Ari what happened, but Ari can’t talk. Mr. Rodriguez helps Julian up, and Julian whispers that he’s going to kill Ari. Mr. Rodriguez tells Ari that he’s lucky he’s not going to call the cops. Ari says that if Mr. Rodriguez does call the cops, he should ask Julian what he’s been doing first.
As horrendous as this violence is, Ari does understand perfectly that Julian will never admit to beating up gay guys to a man who he probably looks up to—or to the police, for that matter. His observations of how the world works have led him to take justice into his own hands, rather than to sit back helplessly.
Themes
