In “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, a book written by Benjamin Alire Saenz, Aristotle Mendoza and Dante Quintana are two fifteen year old boys living in El Paso, Texas. One day, when going to the pool, Aristotle, or Ari, meets Dante who offers to teach him how to swim. After this encounter, the boy’s friendship bloomed, and they grew closer and closer, putting aside their differences in personalities and developing a great relationship. In the beginning of the book, when Ari came over to Dante’s house, he noticed how different the two families acted, and the lack of knowledge Ari had of his own parents; yet closer to the end of the book, Ari’s parents sat down to confront Ari; something they had never done before.
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As Ari observed the relationship the two seemed to have, it was clear how different Ari and Dante’s families really were. When Ari took his first steps into the Quintana house, he was already comparing Sam to his own father; he noted that that his father was more closed up, and that he “kept his difference from the world,”(24) lightly implying that he and his father were not close. Later on, when the boys were up in Dante’s room, Ari also pointed out that he hasn’t “quite figured them [his parents] out yet,”(28) especially his dad, who he had found “inscrutable.”(28) From this, it is easy to infer that Ari’s relationship with his family was not the best; and for a long while, as the book continued, no sort of discussion had taken place in the Mendoza family, demonstrating the lack of communication the family seemed to have, as well as the lack of knowledge of one another they seemed to have, as proven by Ari calling his dad …show more content…
In the later scene though, the characters seem to finally communicate their feelings to one another, which could be the result of Ari and his family finally discussing the topic they had never earlier brought up; Ari’s older brother. When Bernardo was finally addressed, Saenz showed the family’s relationship flourish, as they were finally able to discuss this topic which later influenced Ari’s parents to discuss his feelings about Dante with him. This scene overall showed the growth of the relationship between Ari and his parents, and how it benefited Ari. Through the scene of Ari’s family finally opening up, Saenz hoped to show the message of how people being more open can help result in positive
As Ari observed the relationship the two seemed to have, it was clear how different Ari and Dante’s families really were. When Ari took his first steps into the Quintana house, he was already comparing Sam to his own father; he noted that that his father was more closed up, and that he “kept his difference from the world,”(24) lightly implying that he and his father were not close. Later on, when the boys were up in Dante’s room, Ari also pointed out that he hasn’t “quite figured them [his parents] out yet,”(28) especially his dad, who he had found “inscrutable.”(28) From this, it is easy to infer that Ari’s relationship with his family was not the best; and for a long while, as the book continued, no sort of discussion had taken place in the Mendoza family, demonstrating the lack of communication the family seemed to have, as well as the lack of knowledge of one another they seemed to have, as proven by Ari calling his dad …show more content…
In the later scene though, the characters seem to finally communicate their feelings to one another, which could be the result of Ari and his family finally discussing the topic they had never earlier brought up; Ari’s older brother. When Bernardo was finally addressed, Saenz showed the family’s relationship flourish, as they were finally able to discuss this topic which later influenced Ari’s parents to discuss his feelings about Dante with him. This scene overall showed the growth of the relationship between Ari and his parents, and how it benefited Ari. Through the scene of Ari’s family finally opening up, Saenz hoped to show the message of how people being more open can help result in positive