Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

This section covers the rest of Ari and Dante’s junior year of high school. Dante mentions that the ratio of “Dante letters to Aristotle letters” is seven to one (225). Since Dante left, Ari has been focused on making his life as simple as possible, but Dante’s letters add complexity to his life that he is not ready to deal with. Ari’s taciturn nature frustrates Dante. Ari responds, but his letters are brief while Dante’s letters are lengthy and confessional. The epistolary form continues as most of Ari and Dante’s communication is via letters, with the one exception of the phone call on Christmas. The distance allows Ari to hide parts of his life from Dante, such as his job at the Charcoaler. Ari busies himself with school, work, working out, “looking for his brother’s name on microfilms at the public library, and looking for a way to kiss Ileana” (198).

When Ileana admits that she has a boyfriend, Ari is sad and angry, admitting to Gina that he was “maybe a little bit” in love with Ileana, though he hardly knew her (231). In a letter, Dante confesses to Ari that he is interested in men and someday wants “to marry a boy” (227). Ari is unsure how to respond to Dante: he accepts him but feels confused by Dante’s admission. Ari is frightened by the similarities he and Dante share because he doesn’t want his life to be complicated. Because of Ari’s tendency to avoid discussing difficult topics, none of his letters directly acknowledge this information that Dante shares. The author injects realism into the story by showing that neither of the boys is entirely sure of his sexual orientation, and they are in a phase of experimentation that is typical of kids their age.

The narrative also demonstrates how the freedom Ari’s maturity affords him is balanced out by greater responsibility. In a letter to Dante he writes that when he got his driver’s license “the best part was this: I went out at night and drove into the desert and parked. I listened to the radio and lay down in the back of my pickup and looked out at all the stars. No light pollution, Dante. It was really beautiful” (203). The pickup truck is a symbol of adulthood and Ari’s character progression. On the other hand, Ari complains about his part-time job flipping burgers at the Charcoaler. Still, he ultimately enjoys having money and prefers this job to mowing lawns.

Aristotle thinks that “maybe the problem between me and my father was that we were both the same” (190). Later on, when he spends more time with his father alone during their driving lessons, he realizes he might be wrong (190). Ari’s father seems genuinely content with focusing on driving and not talking about emotional issues, but Ari realizes that it is not enough for him. He is beginning to understand that while he may seem silent on the outside, on the inside he needs to communicate and was “more like Dante” than he initially knew (200).