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 wakes up early and thinks that senior year is going to start soon. Once he graduates, real life will start and he’ll get to write his own story. He touches the scars on his legs and wonders if he actually was hurt and then healed. He thinks that people just live in spaces between hurt and healing, like Mom and Dad do. Legs watches Ari, and Ari wonders what she’s thinking and if someone hurt her. Ari wonders what will happen after he graduates and if summers are different elsewhere.
As Ari considers that people just exist between hurt and healing, being able to apply this to Legs shows that Ari is continuing to grow and develop as he becomes an adult. He now recognizes that the world is a much bigger place than just El Paso, and a different locale might not have the rainstorms, either real or proverbial, that define his life here.
Themes
