“The summer sun was not meant for boys like me. Boys like me belonged to the rain.'' This novel represents the LGBTQ+ community with two young boys falling in love in a world with a vast and unaccepting culture towards their sexuality. The book “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe '' by Benjamin Alire Sáenz shows themes of identity. In the book Aristotle shows this through him struggling to figure out his belonging. He struggles to accept the fact that his belonging might be that he is gay. In the first half of the novel Aristotle demonstrates his identity through belonging, you can see this in the book when it says “I just, I don’t know, I just didn’t belong. I think it embarrassed the hell out of me that I was a guy” …show more content…
Everybody needs a friend.” “I need a friend too,” I said. I had never said that before” (page 307). This quote shows that Aristotle starts to feel as if he belongs because part of his identity is now being Dante’s friend. The part where it said “He needs a friend. Everybody needs a friend.” “I need a friend too,” is when Aristotle realized that just like how having a friend was part of what made some people who they were, Dante was what made Aristotle feel like who he really was. Earlier in the same conversation where Aristotle was talking to Dante’s dad he said “There are worse things in the world than a boy who likes to kiss other boys.” Here in the conversation Aristotle was showing how grounded he felt with his new belonging with Dante. He defended Dante’s choice to be gay because Aristotle started to realize how he felt about his own sexuality. “What did I say when you kissed me?” “You said it didn’t work for you.” “I lied.” He looked at me. “Don’t play with me, Ari.” “I’m not.” I took him by the shoulders. I looked at him. And he looked at me. “You said I wasn’t scared of anything. That’s not true. You. That’s what I’m afraid of. I’m afraid of you, Dante” (Page 358). Here Aristotle finally accepted himself for who he was and confessed to
To do this I must first explain several concepts of Aristotle which are: (1) how he concludes that the human function is reason, (2) what he means by happiness and how it is the human good, and (3) why he believes that the activity of the soul must be virtuous to become
Element of fiction Explanation Supporting quote Setting The book starts of in a bus travelling to the present-day Grand Canyon once Jason, Piper, and Leo arrive they encounter storm spirits with a bounty on their heads. Then, they are transported to a demigod training-camp where they will take on a quest to save Hera, which requires them to travel to Chicago, Quebec, San Francisco and Detroit. The author changes the time setting at some times by using the Memory Moment signpost, reflecting on characters past experiences to contribute to the plot. “She pointed out the open-air dining pavilion that overlooked Long Island Sound.
They walked on again in silence and finally she said, thoughtfully, "You know, I'm not afraid of you at all." He was surprised. "Why should you be?" "So many people are. Afraid of firemen, I mean.
The book The Benefits of Being an Octopus follows the story of Zoey Albro, a seventh-grader who lives in a trailer park with her three younger siblings and her mother's boyfriend, Lenny. She struggles with the effects of poverty, domestic violence, and the ways in which social class and stereotypes shape her identity. Throughout the novel, she realizes the psychological abuse in her mother's relationship with Lenny and the danger of Fuchsia's living situation. Additionally, a crime is committed at school, and Silas, an outcast student, is falsely accused of committing it. Zoey knows the truth about all these problems, the biases, and the complex solutions that those around her don't seem to have the power to correct.
Benjamin Alire Sáenz uses the character Aristotle Mendoza in his novel Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe to illustrate how teenagers develop emotional complexity when dealing with their loved ones and how teenagers’ love and compassion are hard to express after facing a lot of cultural and surrounding upbringings. To begin, Sáenz uses the character Aristotle Mendoza to illustrate the emotional turmoil of adolescents when coping with their beloved ones. Ari saves Dante’s life by pushing him during the accident, making Ari injured, and while Dante is giving Ari a sponge bath, Ari thinks, “When he was done, I opened my eyes. Tears were falling down his face. I should have expected that.
Being a teenager is a struggle, it is tough. A big part of being a teenager is finding who one really is. In Benjamin Alire Saenz’s novel, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Dante and Ari, two teenagers living in New Mexico, spend their time finding themselves. The overall power of the novel is to show how hard it is to find out who one really is. Saenz tries to emphasize the struggles of a teenager, and does it successfully.
His privacy is clearly shown throughout the book because every time someone asks him a personal question, he either dodges the question or responds with a vague answer. As the story progresses, Aristotle slowly starts to open up and share his thoughts and feelings with Dante and his family. He begins to trust people around him to share his innermost thoughts, and eventually becomes a little more open. A good example of who he was before was when he dodged the question of whether he was jealous of his mother’s students during a heated conversation. Afterwards, Ari thinks, “I could avoid questions as skillfully as she could.”
“Yes,” I said. “Get out,” he said. “Get out?” He wore a blue-and-white armband just like mine. “I’m not going to say it again.
One of the main characters, Aristotle (Also known as Ari), undergoes major character development when trying to understand his sexuality. He finds himself pitying his best friend, Dante, whom he might be in love with. This sparks a conversation between him and his parents about this confusion he is experiencing, ¨´What am I going to do?´My father's voice was soft. ´Dante did not run. I keep picturing him taking all those blows.
From beginning to end, Aristotle’s captivating reading, Crito, is composed with of the three rhetorical devices: logos, pathos, and ethos. Consequentialy, one of the existent rhetorical devices is more robust than the others. Whilst logos and pathos spawn well-founded emotional and logical enticement, the most indisputable rhetorical device used throughout the story is ethos. Undoubtably, ethos is the utmost evident rhetorical device in the story, Crito, as Socrates honorably stood by his morals, even after Crito tried to prompt the man to abandon them; demonstrating his thickness of character, integrity, and honesty.
“Nervous?” “Very,” Adam replies honestly. “Will I be alright on my own?” Adam asks.
Ever wondered about the reason why people are the way they are? Many people call this identity. This is seen best through the book, Speak. The main character, Melinda, goes through a continuous journey through high school, trying just to survive. But what shapes her identity through that journey?
In the reading, the term “friend” is used in several different contexts. He talks about the fact that he knows less information about his friends in real life, than his online friends. For example, in the third paragraph he writes “It’s weird that I know more about you than I do about actual friends I hang out with in person--” (182). The general meaning of the word friend now has a different meaning. It used to be people that you knew and with who you were familiar and built a connection with were considered your friend.
Crito tries to convince him to flee by mentioning the sense of loneliness, the injustice he would cause on his children’s lives, the shame of cowardice his friends would bear and how he would be allowing his enemies to destroy him. Socrates and Crito continue to disagree when it comes to the dilemma of escaping or remaining in the prison cell. As the two friends continue to argue, Crito agrees that Socrates was right to preserve his ideal that only the opinions or some men should be regarded and not the opinions of most men. Socrates tells Crito that he will only be persuaded by what is just and reasonable. He chose to abide to the principles of Athens made by men whose opinions are valued and in retrospect he was also sentenced to death by men whose opinions are valued.
Aristotle receives a phone call from Dante, in which they talk about their families and Mexican heritage. “I mean, my dad’s parents were born in Mexico. They live in a small little house in East LA and they speak no English and own a little restaurant. It’s like my mom and dad created a whole new world for themselves. I live in their new world.