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 Mom wait for hours at the doctor’s office. Ari reads the volume of poetry by William Carlos Williams and Mom brings a novel. She comments that she didn’t know that Ari liked poetry. Ari explains that it’s Dante’s book and that the Quintanas have poetry books everywhere. Mom says that Mr. Quintana’s job is wonderful. Ari is skeptical, but Mom says with anger that she didn’t have a single Mexican American professor when she was in school. Ari thinks that he knows so little about Mom. He’s starting to care and wonder. Mom asks Ari if he likes poetry and when he says he does, she suggests he might be a writer. Ari thinks this sounds too beautiful.
Again, this conversation lets Ari practice communicating openly with someone who makes him feel safe and seen. His recognition that he’s starting to care and wonder more about who Mom is as a person points to his development as a person in the world, while Mom’s comment about Mr. Quintana speaks to the importance of seeing one’s identity represented in authority figures. Mr. Quintana is showing students that Mexican people can do all sorts of things, which Mom makes clear is meaningful and important.
Themes
