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. I wanted to yell at him. I wanted to tell …show more content…
I couldn’t stand my own cruelty” (Sáenz 103-4). Ari discovers that Dante is crying after giving him a sponge bath. Ari feels angry, and he feels like he hates Dante. He also wants to yell at Dante and punch him because he is the one who is injured and who should be crying. On the other hand, Ari thinks Dante looks like an angel. Ari does not even understand his anger. It can be seen that Ari’s mind is complex when dealing with Dante. Ari has two sides of emotions. The first side is that he is furious with Dante. Besides, Ari thinks that Dante is guilty of saving his life. Ari thinks it is the reason why Dante is taking care of him. Ari wants Dante’s real love, which is not dependent on sympathy or any other factors. Furthermore, Ari must be feeling vulnerable and inadequate since he cannot take a bath by himself and relies on Dante. He does not even understand why he saved Dante’s life without caring about his own life. Ari values Dante so much, but he cannot accept that he is loving Dante. On the other hand, Ari also thinks that Dante looks like an angel, which represents innocence and purity. It shows Ari’s feelings for Dante. Ari thinks Dante is such a lovely, innocent person, but he is also feeling mad at Dante.