Aristotle's Relationship With Dante

At 15, Aristotle Mendoza has found himself to be lonely and apathetic. He has built walls around himself, separating him from his family and social life. He wants to learn about his older brother, his father is distant, and he feels like he’s nothing more than the family mascot. He considers himself to be apart from other kids his age, and he can’t seem to connect with anybody, similar to how I felt up until 9th grade. During the summer of his 15th year however, he meets Dante Quintana. Often times throughout one’s life, one will be faced with a hardship or event that causes someone’s view on the world to change. For Aristotle, it was meeting Dante, and all that came after; for Dante, it was getting saved by Ari in the process. To Ari, Dante is like a breath of fresh air; shaking up his normal ‘miserable’ life of 15 years. When Ari meets Dante, he is immediately taught by him, literally and metaphorically. Literally, Dante teaches Ari how to swim, but deeper down, he’s showing him the way. Dante is knocking on Ari’s door and inviting outside to the …show more content…
Now the class outcast, I was the prime target for a few well placed jabs. I also cut my hair, which opened the floodgates of all sorts of homophobic insults. Nothing as far as slurs, but I was essentially cut off from making friends that year because no one wanted me to “hit” on them. I had a girl come up to me one day and say, “Um just so you know, everyone thinks you’re in love with so and so.” So and so was the girl I had wanted to be my friend. The one person I wanted as a platonic friend now would probably push me away as well. Thankfully throughout the year, we were put on projects together and got to know each other much more than just in passing. By the end of the year I had a person I could at least call my acquaintance, and that was good enough for