ipl-logo

The Role Of Masculinity In Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe

1136 Words5 Pages

Aristotle’s lack of stereotypical masculinity in the novel Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe

In the media, people see a lot of stereotypical masculinity. People see men being assertive, aggressive, emotionless, hyper independent, etc. In the novel, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Aristotle would not be described using those adjectives used to describe stereotypical masculinity. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe portrays the lack of stereotypical masculinity that Aristotle has in his life, starting with his family. His dad is emotionally unavailable throughout his life and his brother is in jail and all he is left with is his sisters and mother. The girls at school constantly …show more content…

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe portrays the lack of stereotypical masculinity that Aristotle has in his life

Aristotle does not have a reliable or emotionally available male figure in his life. In the beginning of the book it is safe to say that Aristotle’s dad is not emotionally present when Aristotle says “So that’s the way it was. When I was eight, I didn’t know anything about war. I didn’t even know what a conscience was. All I knew is that sometimes my father was sad. I hated that he was sad. It made me sad too. I didn’t like sad.” (Sáenz 14). We also find out the situation with Aristotle's older brother when he says“Because my older brother was in prison and maybe my mother and father blamed themselves. If only they’d said something, done something. They weren’t going to make that mistake again.” (Sáenz 92). Aristotle has a difficult time figuring himself out throughout the entire book, …show more content…

Whenever Aristotle is with a group of boys he tends to study them and find them either not interesting or disgusting, we see examples of this when he went into the shower room and the other guys were talking and showering like everything was normal, Aristotle played baseball and basketball and tried boy scout, that's when he really made up his mind about boys in general, but when he met dante and started to get to know him Aristotle says “Dante. I really liked him, I really, really liked him” (Sáenz 35). In the book, Dante’s character is revealed to be more emotionally open and different from all the guys Aristotle has interacted it, Dante is very open to talk about his feelings and isn’t afraid to get personal, which is something Aristotle lacks in his home life, even though his one very close friend is very open about everything his family situation isn’t the same. Aristotle does not like the social with other guys because of the their aggression, disgusting thoughts, and more, this different concepts of guys and their mannerism tends to confuse Aristotle, making him question how he should be acting, there isn’t a clear male figure for him to look up to, for him to understand how to act and how to live his life as a teenage boy, especially since everyone around him is so different. The difference between Dante and other guys' mannerism is an extreme one, which does not help confuse

Show More
Related
1058 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
796 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
1159 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
928 Words | 4 Pages

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.”

Read More
751 Words | 4 Pages

Dante Hero Essay Pieces of writing are often viewed as a product of their origin time period, even in the modern day it is not uncommon to view our time plane as independent to what preceded as if we were somehow separate from every moment that came before. Instead every aspect of a story is ingrained with the message of millenniums before it, so much so the effect that the present has pales in comparison. This is present throughout Dante’s inferno written by Dante Alighieri as it is not merely a representation of the time period it originated from, rather the present represents the top of an iceberg whose very existence and stature are fully dependent on the times that preceded. This phenomenon of the past is fully present in Dante’s epic hero cycle. Dante’s resurrection reveals to be heavily influenced by the history of humankind.

Read More
152 Words | 1 Pages

Dante was asserting that God had given to the man the intellect to allow him to achieve the knowledge and implementing it through both, the passive apprehending intellect and the active intelligence. In fact he wrote: “All men on whom the Higher Nature has stamped the love of truth should especially concern themselves in labouring for posterity, in order that future generations may be enriched by their efforts, as they themselves were made rich by the efforts of generations past. For that man who is imbued with public teachings, but cares not to contribute something to the public good, is far in arrears of his duty, let him be assured; he is, indeed, not “a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in season,” but

Read More
466 Words | 2 Pages

Phaestis, his mother, was an aristocratic descent while his father, Nicomachus, was a physician. When Aristotle was 17 years old, he traveled to Athens, Greece to join Plato’s school called, the Academy. He studied there for 20 years until Plato’s death in 347 B.C… Years passed and Aristotle was selected to tutor a man named, Alexander the Great of Macedon. Because Alexander

Read More
370 Words | 2 Pages

His father also hired Aristotle, his tutor, to teach him everything

Read More
1210 Words | 5 Pages

To reach this conclusion, I will be splitting this passage into 3 parts. The first section is Aristotle’s introduction to

Read More
1019 Words | 5 Pages

In the first chapter, Aristotle claims that friendship is needed among humans. He also claims that there is more than one kind of friendship and that people who disagree have a misguided mindset. He says they see these different forms of friendship as factions, and not entirely dissimilar concepts. At the beginning of chapter two, he thinks we can more clearly see the differences if we understand the object of love. Continuing, Aristotle claims that there are three lovable types of things.

Read More
634 Words | 3 Pages

Philip II hired Aristotle to create an alliance Atarneus, so Philip could have someone to back him up when he goes to war with Persia. Also, Aristotle’s father served as a physician to an earlier king of Macedonia. Aristotle taught by asking questions. In return, Philip II restored Aristotle’s home town, Stagira, which he conquered long ago. Before Alexander left to be taught, Philip II told Alexander to learn and work hard, to avoid making the same mistakes he, Philip II, had made.

Read More
563 Words | 3 Pages

Aristotle was born in 384 bc in a town called Stagira, Greece. Aristotle's dad is Nicomachus and his Mother is Phaestis. He was named by his father because his name means “the best purpose”. Aristotle childhood is unknown because when he was little people did not write much.

Read More
414 Words | 2 Pages

He gained most of his wisdom from bring practical with his research. Aristotle had his different view on love. Aristotle argued that no one can say they have lived life with no love or friendship. He identified the factors that make people have a good life or not. He suggested that the good people all possess distinct virtues.

Read More
1571 Words | 7 Pages

All in all, Aristotle’s philosophy made an astounding influence. In fact, it is in Aristotle’s Philosophy that Alexander the Great, which the former tutored in 347 BCE, laid down the foundations of the latter’s empire. Throughout Alexander’s rule, the influence of Aristotle, his mentor, can be seen in the former’s skillful and diplomatic handling of difficult problems throughout his career. When Alexander became a king, he had set forth on a Persian expedition to expand his empire.

Read More
796 Words | 4 Pages

Socrates and Aristotle, despite being related through Plato, are in fact very different people and have many differing theories. Socrates outlook on life was that we 're all inherently good, but we will do bad things on accident. For example, when talking about ignorance, Socrates believes that we do not willingly do anything wrong. We instead have two branches of ignorance: not knowing something and knowing that you don 't know, or not knowing but you think that you do know (Plato, P.561). Aristotle on the other hand, claims that there is a different outlook on the model of ignorance.

Read More

More about The Role Of Masculinity In Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe

Related Topics

Open Document