Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

This section is titled “Letters on a Page” with an epigraph: “There are some words I’ll never learn to spell” (155). In this section, all of the communication between Ari and Dante is through letters. The author uses an epistolary form that emphasizes the gradual changes Ari and Dante undergo over the course of their junior year.

The differences between Dante and Ari regarding communication are even more extreme when they are physically apart. While Dante’s letters are revealing and honest, Ari avoids writing back to Dante. Dante accepts this, writing to Ari: “You have to be who you are. And I have to be who I am” (184). Dante finishes his third letter by stating, “I’m not going to tell you that I miss you anymore” (186). Ari knows that his silence is hurting Dante, but he is conflicted about how to treat Dante after the accident and how to handle his confusing emotions toward his friend. In one letter, Dante says that Edward Hopper’s painting Nighthawks reminds him of Ari because of the loneliness he feels when viewing the painting. He writes that it breaks his heart. While at the library, Ari finds an art book with Nighthawks and comments that the painting was like “looking in a mirror. But it didn’t break [his] heart” like it did Dante’s (188). This shows that Ari has a harder shell around his emotions and he doesn’t break as easily as Dante does.

Meanwhile, Ari becomes romantically interested in an older girl named Ileana. He finds her beautiful and mysterious, but she remains as elusive to him as he remains to other people. Ari’s conflicted sexuality is symbolized in his dreams of sitting with Ileana in his pickup truck and running over Dante. Dante also experiments with kissing girls. Ari and Dante experience confusion and turmoil during their time apart as each tries to unravel the mystery of their identity and the mystery of one another.

Ari’s relationships with his peers provide greater context for Ari’s life outside of his relationships with his family and Dante. His friendships with women and curiosity about their experience of the world is a recurring theme throughout. It also becomes clear that Ari generally relates better to girls than he does to boys because his two closest friends at school are girls. Ari’s closest friend besides Dante is Gina Navarro, a talkative, smart, and curious girl. Ari has been friends with Gina since first grade. She and Ari tease each other frequently, and the comfort and easiness of their friendship is a source of humor and lighthearted banter. Gina tells him that “he wouldn’t know” about change after he tells her that “change is overrated” (157). On the first day of junior year, Ari thinks to himself he’d like to wear a t-shirt that says “I am unknowable” but that this would only pique Gina’s curiosity even more (161). Gina balances Ari out: She is sociable and humorous while he is introverted and overly serious. Gina’s ability to call Ari on his flaws and tease him lovingly is reminiscent of Ari’s relationship with his mother. The author implies that Gina might be hiding romantic feelings toward Ari. Her incessant nosiness about his romantic life hints at this, but the friendship between Ari and Gina remains platonic.

Ari has a rare pleasant dream that Bernardo is 15 and he is four, and they are walking outside on a beautiful day holding hands. The dream symbolizes his wish for Bernardo’s guidance through this difficult period. He remembers that Bernardo was 15 when he’d last seen him, and thinks that perhaps the reason he is so melancholy is because of the loss of his brother’s presence. He takes action and begins searching for Bernardo’s name at the public library, reflecting his growing desperation to find out what happened to him.

Finally, the pickup truck becomes an important symbol in these chapters. Ari compares sitting in his pickup truck listening to the radio to “his version of praying” (168). He adores the pickup truck, and driving his truck into the desert provides him comfort while he deals with Dante’s absence and his yearning to understand his feelings.