Silence and Trauma vs. Communication Theme in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe presents two opposing visions of how people can relate to others: Ari and his family are overwhelmingly silent and ignore past trauma, such as Dad’s experiences in the Vietnam War and the reason why Ari’s older brother, Bernardo, is in prison. Dante and his family, on the other hand, are open, communicative, and affectionate with each other and with others. Especially as Ari begins to connect with Dad and figure out what happened to Bernardo, the novel goes to great lengths to show that remaining silent about something can be just as traumatizing as experiencing something traumatic firsthand, while speaking and attempting to connect with others is possibly not a foolproof way to guard against trauma, but is certainly more effective than silence.

When it comes to trauma, Aristotle and Dante clearly show that trauma is as much something that happens in an instant (as when the car hits Ari) as it is something that’s passed down through generations. While Ari, who was born after Dad’s return from Vietnam, has no memories of his dad before the war or his return, he nevertheless suffers, too, from his dad’s trauma. Dad’s silence and unwillingness to speak to Ari about anything, especially the war, makes Ari feel even more alone and put-upon. Mom tells Ari that Dad carries the war inside him, something that Ari sees happening to him too—he may not remember the war, but he lives day in and day out with another person’s trauma of the war. Especially given Ari’s belief that Dad should be more available to him to teach him about how to be a man in the world and guide him toward adulthood, Dad’s silence is especially offensive to Ari. Dad’s secrecy about the war means that he’s not just depriving Ari of a relationship, he’s also inadvertently teaching Ari that the only way to deal with trauma is through silence.

In Dad’s defense, he’s not the only one in the family who uses silence and withdrawal to cope with their trauma. In addition to Dad’s silence about the Vietnam War, Ari’s primary conflict with his parents has to do with the silence and the mystery surrounding Bernardo, Ari’s older brother, who ended up in prison when Ari was four. Ari sees that his parents and sisters act as though Bernardo is dead or doesn’t exist to them—indeed, the reader doesn’t even learn Bernardo’s name until much later in the novel, reinforcing the sense of secrecy and silence around the topic. Similarly to the way that Ari feels that he has to live with the trauma of Dad’s experience with the war, Ari feels as though he also has to suffer because of what’s happening to his brother. All Ari knows for much of the novel is that Bernardo was an angry boy who got too violent one time—and so Ari feels the pressure to not be violent or step out of line. He feels that it is his obligation to take on the traditional role of the oldest male sibling in his family—all without knowing exactly what it is he’s supposed to be avoiding in the first place. This is made even more difficult by the fact that Ari is angry; he’s a teenage boy under a lot of pressure that he doesn’t fully understand. Because of this, when bad things do happen to him, he feels he has no choice but to lash out at others whether they deserve it or not—and in this way, he perpetuates the cycle of silence, violence, and trauma because he feels he has no choice but to do so and no way to remedy the silence in his own home.

Dante, and the Quintana family as a whole, present a very different view of how to interact with others. Dante himself often cries, and his whole family is open and physically affectionate with each other. The novel suggests that this way of existing is healthier in many ways, if scary for someone like Ari—though he’s somewhat jealous and wonders what it’d be like to kiss his dad in greeting, Dante’s insistence that Ari talk is still wildly uncomfortable for Ari. This makes it very clear that relearning how to healthily deal with silence and ultimately break it is a difficult project—indeed, it takes Ari two years, until the very end of the novel, to break his own silence about his sexuality and confess his love to Dante, something that makes him feel freer and happier than he ever has.

As Ari grows up and as his family becomes closer to Dante’s, Ari’s family gradually begins to borrow some of the Quintana family’s willingness to communicate openly. Dad begins to open up about his experience in the war and also tells Ari about what Bernardo did, and importantly for Ari, his parents let him in on the fact that his beloved Aunt Ophelia (who dies suddenly of a stroke) was a lesbian, and so was shunned by everyone in the extended family aside from Mom and Dad. This is important information for Ari as he begins to come to terms with his sexuality. This openness that Ari begins to cultivate with his parents gives him the courage and willingness to be truthful with Dante about his feelings and begin to let go of his anger, making the case that the only way to recover from one’s own trauma or that of one’s family is to begin to talk about it openly and truthfully.

Silence and Trauma vs. Communication ThemeTracker

The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Silence and Trauma vs. Communication appears in each chapter of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.

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