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 the next morning feeling like he died. Mom gives him water and chicken soup. The soup is great at first, but it gets boring when Ari eats it for every meal. After four days, Ari declares that he’s done being held hostage. Mom and Dad disagree and say that Ari needs to spend one more day in bed. As Dad leaves Ari’s bedroom, he asks if Ari has had more bad dreams. Ari admits that he always has bad dreams and is often lost in them. He says that he sometimes looks for Dad, but he thinks he’s trying to find himself. This conversation scares Ari. Dad apologizes for being so far away. Dad starts to walk away and then says that he has bad dreams too. Ari wants to ask if they’re about Vietnam or Bernardo, but he just smiles, happy that Dad shared something.
The way that Ari explains what he thinks his dreams mean to Dad shows that for all his bluster, Ari is very introspective and certainly has the capacity to be vulnerable—he understands that the dreams are about his own desire to learn about how he fits into the world. His happiness at Dad’s admission offers some hope that Ari and Dad will be able to connect as the novel progresses, showing that learning to communicate openly is a slow process but one that can be intensely meaningful for all parties.
Themes
