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

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

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,

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