Parental Dispute Theme in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Essay Example

Parental dispute is a theme in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe that will resonate with middle schoolers. Teenagers, eighth-grade students in particular, often start to spend more time with their peers than their families when entering adolescence which can make relationships with guardians rocky. Aristotle and Dante have very different personalities and lifestyles which means they also have very different relationships with their parents. Since the two main characters have such contrast, the diversity in their problems allows for a variety of obstacles that can provide guidance to a broad range of eighth-graders. Ari struggles with communicating with his parents as his father was in the war and battles PTSD. Ari’s mother speaks to him minimally because of the barrier created between them by the absence of Ari’s brother and his parents’ unwillingness to address said absence. His parents’ silence leads to him thinking that he is unknowable. Without knowing himself, Ari struggles to understand how anyone could know him, or would want to. When Ari gets the flu he has nightmares in which he cannot find his father. Upon finding out that Ari feels like he can’t reach his father, his father responds with “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m so far away.” (p 65) This quote shows that Ari’s father cares about Ari and wants him to feel like he can reach out to his family. Later in the text, Ari’s mother reaches out in a similar way by opening up about Bernardo, trying to diminish the barrier between them made by his brother’s absence. After handing Ari a picture of Ari and Bernardo, Ari’s mother apologizes for keeping Bernardo so far away, saying, “‘You loved him so much,’ …. ‘And I'm sorry. It's like I said, Ari, we don't always do the right things, you know? We don't always say the right things. Sometimes, it seems like it just hurts too much to look at something. So you don't. You just don't look. But it doesn't go away, Ari.’ She handed me the envelope. ‘It's all in there.’” Dante has a much more communicative relationship with his parents. He deals with not fitting in with their extended family as Dante is lighter-skinned and doesn’t feel like a real Mexican, as well as a fear of disappointing them when he comes out to them as gay. In a letter to Ari, Dante expresses his fear of coming out to his parents. After writing that he knows he’ll disappoint his parents and that he hates lying to them he writes, “Dad, I have something to say to you. I like boys. Don’t hate me. Please don’t hate me” (p 227). After Dante is beaten up for kissing Daniel in an alley, his father tells Ari that he would have supported Dante in anything and that he loves Dante so much. The messages in these quotes and character development can show readers dealing with similar issues that opening up can get them the help and support that they need, especially from parental figures. Because the book is set where both lead characters are at a similar life stage as the eighth-grade readers, students can relate personally to the themes in the text. Ari deals with not being able to communicate with his parents and Dante deals with being afraid to let them down. Ari and Dante both solve these issues or get closer to it by the end of the book which allows eighth-grade students to believe in problem-solving and relationship healing.