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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 gets annoyed when people from New England assume that England is cold; while England may be colder in the summer, New England’s winters are much colder. And so, when he arrives in England that November, he doesn’t even need his scarf. He thinks back to a couple sentences in an academic journal where Monty pointed out that Howard mistakenly referred to the wrong Rembrandt painting in one of his own letters to the journal. Their argument in that journal was the culmination of 15 years of rivalry.
Howard gets annoyed when people bring up a small stereotype about English life. Ironically, however, he often fails to see how other characters in the story experience prejudice, such as how Kiki sometimes feels out of place around Howard’s (mostly white) academic colleagues. And so, it makes sense that Harold, who gets annoyed about small things like a stereotype about English weather, would also be the type of person to hold a grudge for 15 years and to view one exchange in the letters-to-the-editor of an academic journal to be a major life event.
Themes
Howard reveals that, particularly outside of the comfort zone of his family and his university, he often struggles to relate to and empathize with others. This suggests that academic ideals don’t always carry over into practical settings and can be alienating.
Themes
Howard isn’t used to meeting people taller than him, so he feels unnerved when he see the six-foot, five-inch Michael. They talk, and Howard learns that Michael is a risk analyst at an equities firm. Howard senses that Michael doesn’t like him and that perhaps that’s because Michael doesn’t like the idea of Jerome marrying Victoria.
Howard feels particularly uncomfortable around Michael because, as someone who works at a private equities firm, Michael comes from a very different world from Howard. Whereas Howard’s academic work reflects his idealism, Michael’s career as a risk analyst suggests cold practicality.
Themes
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Michael asks if Jerome goes to the university where Howard teaches, but Howard says that’s Zora—Jerome goes to Brown. Howard supposes it’s better for Jerome to do his own thing, but Michael says he liked being at the same university as Monty for a while. Michael says it’s a Caribbean value to have a close family, which is why he always tries to stay close. Howard thinks Michael is pretentious.
In this passage, Michael acts polite, if a little confused, and Howard immediately interprets his confusion as pretension, showing how Howard is paranoid about other people being hostile. Still, in this passage, Michael makes a mistake about where Jerome goes to school, suggesting that, as much as Michael claims to know everything that goes on in his family’s house, he may also have his blind spots.
Themes
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Howard says he can tell Michael agrees and makes vague comments about how they should work together to prevent an insane thing from happening. Michael says he knows Howard and Monty have argued in the past, but Michael believes in forgiveness, and he thinks Jerome is a good kid. But when Howard mentions marriage between Jerome and Victoria, Michael is shocked and has no idea what Howard is talking about.
Once again, Howard shows how he struggles to relate to people outside his usual circles. In this case, he assumes that Michael already knows about Victoria’s engagement and that Michael feels the same way as he does. Howard reveals that he isn’t good at predicting what other people are thinking, particularly for strangers like Michael, and this is perhaps one reason why Howard’s influence on campus is always limited to a small group of “fans” who understand him, while others find him baffling.
Themes
Michael says he likes Jerome but thinks he’s far too different from the Kippses to ever marry Victoria. Howard takes some offense at this and says he also doesn’t want Jerome to marry someone like Victoria. Howard implies that probably Jerome only wants to marry Victoria because she was his first time having sex (a theory Howard came up with on his own). Howard’s claim angers Michael, who insists his sister is still a virgin.
Howard again demonstrates his lack of respect for typical social cues. While previously, Howard was being too vague for Michael to understand him, here Howard becomes too explicit and inappropriate, speculating about Victoria’s sex life to her brother. In addition to showing how Howard fails to relate to others, it also foreshadows how, particularly when it comes to sex, Howard struggles to set healthy boundaries.
Themes
This whole conflict arose because Howard didn’t check his emails from Jerome before leaving (and doesn’t have a cellphone that Kiki could have called to warn him). This scene seems to illustrate the weakness of Howard’s less communicative family compared to Monty’s close-knit one, although the fact that Michael didn’t even know about his sister’s very brief engagement suggests that perhaps the Kipps family isn’t as close as they appear to be.
Themes
Howard is surprised that Carlene is older than Kiki, since he figured Monty would have a “trophy” wife. Carlene explains that Victoria just turned 18 but is sensible for her age. She asks if Howard has a hotel and then suggests that perhaps Jerome should go there with him. Carlene tells Jerome he can pick up his things in the morning but that he should probably not contact Victoria until he leaves so that there are no more “scenes.”
Howard is jealous of Monty, seeing him as a kind of academic rockstar, and so he falsely assumes that Monty would live like an actual rockstar, with a much-younger wife. In her first appearance, Carlene reveals herself to be empathetic but firm, not getting angry at Howard or Jerome but also making it clear that neither is welcome to stay in the house.
Themes
As much as Howard dislikes Monty, he remains fascinated by him, hoping to see him even at a moment when it probably wouldn’t be wise. While Carlene remains patient with Howard, she continues to make it clear that her own family is her priority.
Themes
