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Part Four, Chapter Twenty-Four
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 works a full day at the Charcoaler the day after Christmas. At home, Ari is thrilled to find homemade tamales. Mom says that Dante called and didn’t know that Ari had a job. Dante calls back. He and Ari talk about the cold, gray weather in Chicago and then Dante asks about Ari’s job. He points out that Ari isn’t going to be able to save money if he keeps buying art books, and thanks Ari for a book about The Raft of the Medusa. They laugh and Ari misses him more than ever. Ari takes Legs out for a run later, and it starts to rain. Ari thinks about the accident and his legs hurt.
Calling Ari out on not keeping Dante fully updated on what’s going on shows that Mom desperately wants Ari to learn the value of communication. When Ari’s legs start to hurt on the run, it shows that rain still represents a fundamental shift and a loss of innocence for Ari. The fact that he’s thinking about the accident suggests that Ari won’t be able to just push down the reality of the accident just to comply with his rule. At some point, he’ll have to accept that it happened and come to terms with his feelings for Dante.
Themes
