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On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 1
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
As the Belseys drive to North London for Carlene’s funeral, Zora thinks the neighborhood looks very shabby. Jerome, however, is impressed by the diversity of people that show up at Carlene’s funeral. When they arrive, Howard is surprised and happy to see Erskine was able to make it over from his vacation in Paris for the funeral.
Even after Carlene’s death, Jerome continues to be fascinated by her. One darkly humorous element of the funeral is that people like the Belseys and Erskine are only able to attend it because Carlene’s death happened to fall during a convenient time of year where everyone was already in Europe.
Themes
Levi has never been to a funeral before and finds the whole experience strange, particularly the decrepit church. Jerome assures him that Carlene came to this church all the time and would’ve wanted her funeral there. Meanwhile, Howard can’t stop looking at Carlene’s coffin, and when Levi asks if he’s OK, Howard quickly leaves the church.
Once again, Levi thinks he admires the authenticity of poverty, but seeing the shabby state of Carlene’s church somehow unnerves him. Carlene’s modest church seems to reflect that fact that she was the one in the family who valued religion, and so she picked the family church that matched her humble, old-fashioned values—even if its physical appearance isn’t all that lofty and impressive.
Themes
It’s bright outside when the funeral begins but cloudy when it’s over. Afterward, Monty talks to Kiki about how she was such a good friend to Carlene but also how because Carlene was so generous it was possible for people to take advantage of her. Kiki agrees with him.
Monty confronts Kiki to subtly accuse her of trying to manipulate Carlene into leaving her the Hyppolite painting. Kiki’s vague response leaves room for ambiguity, but it’s likely that when she agrees with Monty’s claim, she’s in fact pointedly implying that perhaps he was the one taking advantage of Carlene’s generosity.
Themes
Kiki apologizes for Howard’s sudden departure, saying he had a stomach problem. Monty acts like this was no big deal, and she is impressed by how magnanimous he is. Kiki leaves Monty to find Levi, Jerome, and Zora. There, all of them notice Chantelle, who looks beautiful and has apparently become a favorite student of Monty’s recently.
Although Kiki lies about Howard having a stomach problem, Howard’s inability to confront serious topics like death is indeed a “stomach problem” in the sense that he lacks the guts to do it. Meanwhile, Monty goes too far in the opposite direction. His magnanimous attitude at Charlene’s funeral suggest that, for all Monty’s sermons about keeping his family close, he seems unusually calm about his wife dying unexpectedly.
Themes
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Kiki begins to talk to Chantelle and learns that Monty goes to the same church in Wellington as her, so he took her on as an intern. Kiki says that everything with Carlene’s death must have been a terrible shock to Chantelle, and Chantelle agrees that it was.
Kiki and Chantelle have a seemingly innocent talk about how she met Monty through church. Still, Chantelle’s appearance at the funeral raises questions about the nature of her relationship with Monty, since few interns would fly across the Atlantic just to attend a funeral for their boss’s wife.
Themes
Kiki wants to know where Howard is, but only Zora’s cellphone works abroad, and Howard doesn’t have a cell anyway. Kiki is angry at Howard for being disrespectful at the funeral by leaving.
Kiki is the Belsey family member most invested in the funeral because of her close friendship with Carlene—in fact, Kiki may be more invested in the ceremony than some of the surviving Kippses who, without Carlene around to hold the family together, seem to be struggling to maintain their image as a close-knit family.
Themes
