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 and Dante can’t find much to talk about. Ari reads poems to Dante and neither of them go back to work. Ari thinks that in some ways, he feels closer to Dante than ever, but further away in others. One morning, Ari takes the photos of Bernardo and tells Dante what happened. Bernardo was 15 and an angry boy. One night, he picked up a prostitute. Dante interrupts and asked where Bernardo got the money, since what 15-year-old has money for a prostitute, but Ari cuts him off. He says that the prostitute was a "transvestite," and Bernardo lost his temper and beat “him” until “he” died. They discuss that Dante already knew about transvestites, but Ari didn’t. Ari says it gets worse: in prison, Bernardo killed someone else.
Ari uses the word "transvestite" and male pronouns to refer to the person Bernardo killed, which could suggest that the person was male-identifying but liked to dress in stereotypically feminine clothing. (Today, some consider "transvestite" to be an offensive term.) Another possibility is that the person was transgender, meaning that they identified as a gender different from the one they were assigned at birth. The novel takes place in the 1980s, when "transgender" wasn’t a widely understood term, so it’s unclear how this person would have liked others to refer to them. It's implied that Bernardo killed this person because he was upset that the prostitute he picked up wasn't a cisgender woman. The fact that Bernardo killed this person suggests that while Ari may crave mentorship from Bernardo, it might be better for his well-being that Bernardo isn't in his life. After all, if Bernardo is willing to kill a “transvestite," it’s unlikely that he’d look kindly on his brother being gay.
Themes
Dante offers his condolences but Ari says he’s glad to know and would like to get to know Bernardo someday. Ari says that Bernardo’s story is so sad and he’s afraid that he’s like him. Dante says that he knows Ari broke Julian’s nose and asks why Ari never told him. Ari says that he just wanted to hurt Julian for hurting Dante. They discuss Dante’s injuries and that Dante doesn’t like the pain pills, but he does like marijuana. They laugh and Dante says that Ari isn’t like Bernardo. Ari isn’t sure about this.
For Ari, it’s disturbing that he might be angry like Bernardo, if not about the same things. In his defense, Ari beat up Julian because he wanted to protect and avenge Dante, not because he flew into a rage when someone’s body or identity didn’t match what he expected. Talking about all of this also allows Ari and Dante to get closer to each other and begin to move on from this particular trauma more healthily.
Themes
Dante asks if it bothers Ari that he was kissing Daniel. Ari says that he thinks Daniel is an awful person. Ari wouldn’t have left Dante. Dante says that he’s glad that Ari broke Julian’s nose and tries to defend Daniel when Ari insists that he doesn’t care about Dante. Dante says that he’d like to tell Ari a secret: in his head, he was kissing Ari and not Daniel. Ari shrugs and tells Dante to get a new head.
For Ari, beating up Julian was all about loyalty, and he sees that Daniel isn’t a loyal person in any way. Again, however, he’s ignoring the fact that Daniel did what he needed to do to keep himself safe, something that speaks to Ari’s youth, inexperience, and naïveté.
Themes
