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Part Four, Chapter Twelve
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
Dante writes to Ari again. He’s annoyed that Ari isn’t writing back, but promises that he won’t bug him about it. He writes that he loves going to the Art Institute of Chicago and thinks that Ari would love it too. He especially loves the painting Nighthawks by Edward Hopper, because it makes him think of Ari in his loneliness and sadness. His favorite painting, however, is The Raft of the Medusa by Géricault. Dante says that he knows that Ari’s casts are off and he’s going to break the rule about not talking about the accident. He says it’s a stupid rule, but he hopes that Ari is as normal as he can be again. Dante says that he misses Ari and that he wonders why they have so many rules. It might be because their parents give them so many rules.
Dante’s insistence that the rule that they can’t talk about the accident is stupid shows that he’s beginning to come into himself. As he becomes closer to Ari, he feels more comfortable making it known that Ari isn’t right all the time. Trying to figure out where Ari’s love of rules comes from shows that on some level, Dante understands that trauma and silence are things that Ari inherited from Dad. Making it about the two of them suggests that Dante is learning to be silent as well, as he experiments with his identity.
Themes
