Characters and Plot
In this story there are four characters that are mentioned often and there are two main characters, Aristotle(Ari) and Dante. Aristotle is a boy who was often alone and did not particularly enjoy the company of others before he met Dante. Dante is a boy who is very different from most other boys, he enjoys not wearing shoes, art, poetry and swimming. Dante is a boy who does not quite fit in with the other boys around him just like Aristotle. Dante's father is an author and literature professor and I believe that that is where he got his love of literature. Dante's mother is a therapist and I think that it affected him by making him more trusting of his parents. The plot for this story is based off the two main characters Aristotle and Dante. The two boys meet at the pool one day in El Paso(pg. 17- 18). Ari did not know how to swim and Dante decided to teach him. After that they became inseparable and best friends. Many things happened throughout their relationship some good and some bad but the two boys always pushed through. They loved each other like brothers or at least they thought they did. Aristotle and Dante never realized that their love for each other could be more than just brotherly love, that it could be much more…
Important Themes and Symbols
A common theme in this story is to accept oneself. Aristotle's parent do a great job of explaining that to him in the end of the book when he was having trouble on his own(pg. 347- 348). On these pages Ari's parent talk to him about how he has been running from something he is terrified by. Ari is terrified by the idea of him and Dante. Ari is a boy who cannot accept that him, a boy can possibly love another boy the way that his father loves his mother. Dante accepted his love for Ari much earlier in the book but because of Ari's unwillingness to accept himself or his denial he lied to Dante in one of the most crucial parts of the story. This lie spread through their entire relationship until they were farther apart than they ever have been. That distance that was caused from one lie was one of the final experiences that push Ari to accept himself like Dante had. As I said before, the common theme in this book is self acceptance and there are many instances where that is tested, in both Ari and Dante. Self acceptance is one of the hardest things to do so the way these two boys accomplished it was amazing for me.