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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
It’s late December in Northern London, and Howard and Kiki have gone to visit Rachel and Adam Miller, another couple they know who also don’t celebrate Christmas. It’s a peaceful trip until Kiki gets a call from Michael that Carlene is dead and the funeral will be in London. Kiki is in shock because she just saw Carlene two weeks ago. She makes immediate plans to go to the funeral.
Just weeks after Carlene promised to go on a trip with Kiki, she dies. This gives her final lines about the trip added poignance. Perhaps Carlene was in denial about her illness, staying strong for her family, or perhaps Carlene was alluding to her Christian belief that she may one day see Kiki after a trip to the afterlife.
Themes
Carlene was dealing with an aggressive cancer that no one else in the family knew about. Shortly after her death, Michael finds prescription painkillers in her suitcases, which is how he learns she was being treated for cancer. Monty finds a note written in pencil that Carlene left behind and holds a family meeting with Victoria, Michael, and Amelia. In the note, Carlene leaves her Hyppolite painting to Kiki. Monty acknowledges that the note is in Carlene’s handwriting, but Michael questions whether Carlene was still in her right mind when she wrote it.
The aggressive cancer that Carlene was dealing with is a physical version of the many hidden problems that Kiki herself hides for the sake of her family. For Michael and Monty, what makes Carlene’s death extra difficult is that it reveals to them how much they really didn’t know about Carlene. In particular, Monty seems to resent the idea that Carlene wanted to give the Hyppolite painting to Kiki, since it hints at a whole hidden life for Carlene that Monty himself may have never seen.
Themes
Michael suggests just burning the note, since even if Kiki knows about the painting, she’ll have no evidence to prove that Kiki left it to her. Monty agrees, but he says Kiki should at least get an invitation to the funeral. Michael doesn’t like the idea, but Monty insists that it’s the decent thing to do and that Kiki likely won’t be able to come anyway.
For all his hypocrisy and his dislike of the Belsey family, Monty does still have deeply held beliefs about right and wrong that affect some of his actions. Perhaps he finds it easier to do the right thing and invite Kiki because he expects she won’t be able to come anyway.
Themes
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