Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in On Beauty, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Nature of Beauty
Politics in Academia
Race and Identity
The Value of Family
Summary
Analysis
Howard shows up at Emerson in his suit. Victoria shows up very late, saying there was an issue with her outfit. She is wearing a low-cut suit with nothing underneath. Howard notices Monty sitting with a student who looks a lot like Victoria. Howard wonders if Victoria has some ulterior motive for continuing to pursue Howard.
Although Howard and Victoria’s most recent conversation left some room for ambiguity about whether Victoria wanted a sexual or a collegial relationship with Howard, her choice of outfit seems to suggest the former. Once again, Howard tries to cast himself as a victim, picturing ways that Victoria might be trying to trick him.
Themes
A drunk Erskine comes over to greet Howard. He drank a lot before the event because a male student that he finds boring and stupid asked him to attend. When Erskine hears that Howard came with Victoria, he’s extremely jealous.
Unlike Howard, who feels conflicted about sex, Erskine is openly lecherous. While this might seem to make him worse than Howard, the novel asks whether Howard’s hypocrisy is really any better than the undisguised libido of someone like Erskine.
Themes
When Howard sees the evening’s program, he’s dismayed to notice a glee club performance on it. As soon as the glee club starts to sing, Howard starts involuntarily crying tears of laughter at how ridiculous it is. He gets so loud that Victoria tells him to be quiet. Howard tries to picture unfunny things like death and taxes, but he can’t stop himself. He leaves the event and heads home.
A glee club is perhaps the ultimate example of sincere expression, and so for someone like Howard, who always uses ironic distance to hide his emotions, a glee club is inherently and unbearably ridiculous. While Howard finds the glee club’s sincerity embarrassing, this ironically makes Howard himself cause an even more embarrassing scene.
Themes
Howard makes it home and greets Murdoch. He tries in vain to read a book before falling asleep. Kiki comes in and tells him that apparently their kids came back while Howard was asleep. Howard asks if Kiki wants a nightcap, and though she refuses at first, eventually Kiki agrees.
Just as Howard’s visit to his father taught him that he still needs Kiki, Kiki seems to have also realized that she still relies on Howard in spite of his flaws. Given that Kiki is grieving Carlene, it makes sense that she would turn back toward Howard to fill the gap.
Themes
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Kiki talks about her friend who will probably have to get divorced. She says it feels like everyone she knows is falling apart. She asks Howard about his dinner, and he says it was embarrassing because there was a glee club. Kiki knows immediately what this means. She asks if it was worse than what he did during the glee club performance at Yale, and Howard says it was indeed worse.
When Kiki mentions her divorcing friend, she is both warning Howard about a possible future while also suggesting that her friend is in a worse situation and that Kiki herself isn’t necessarily ready for a divorce.
Themes
Kiki laughs as Howard does his imitation of the glee club. Levi yells down at them that he’s trying to sleep. Eventually, Kiki stops laughing and sighs, then she tells Howard where to find clean sheets for the divan.
Kiki mentioned earlier in the novel how her memories of Howard become sweeter over time, and so when Howard appeals to the past here, recalling his previous mishaps with glee clubs, Kiki is perhaps recalling an idealized younger version of her husband.
Themes
