Book Review Sample on Aristotle and Dante Discover Identity Issues in Childhood

Introduction

The lead characters have odd and outdated names. However, the names give adequate weight to the characters. Dante approaches Ari at the pool house, and that is how the two met (Senz). The identities of the two characters are built on by the allusion. The self-reflecting questions are uniquely molded into the teens. They reveal why Ari questions his sexuality, searching for a solid reason to his realization, while Dante gets to acknowledge his sexuality. In the end, the question is who guided the other.

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Heritage

Nationalities and heritage are elaborate in the teens changing identity. They are both Mexican-American who relate to different aspects of the cultures. For Ari, being Mexican is the center of his identity because of his upbringing, while Dante relates less to being Mexican. Culture intersects with sexuality when Dante asks Ari whether real Mexican boys like other boys, but he answers that it's not an American innovation either. The two have to adjust to the new subculture that is not backed up by either set of cultures. The teens end up creating new territories within the Anglo-dominant culture while preserving the Mexican culture, as they acknowledge their sexuality. Other than the cultural borders that the two live in, their sexuality creates a frontier for the two.

Caucasia

On the other hand, Caucasia is a story of two multiracial girls, Birdie and Cole that have a Caucasian mother and an African American father. The two sisters use made-up language that only then can understand to converse. It illustrates then creating their subculture. The fights between their parents' increase and Deck, their father, has to move out. The girls move to an African American power school. Other students question Birdie about her race. She ends up changing their hair, dress code, and speech patterns to fit in with other African American students. Cole assists her through this since she has a darker complexion. Birdie’s popularity flourishes when she gets close to a group of girls called Brown Sugars.

As the year ends, the parents finalize their divorce, and Cole moves with him to Brazil. Sandy gets new identities with Jewish ancestry for her and Birdie as they relocate. Birdie becomes Jesse Goldman and her mother, Sheila Goldman (Senna). Here, she has to deny her blackness and identify with her whiteness. Birdie and Nicholas Marsh get affectionate, and their relationship makes her realize that she wanted to be associated with her African American side. When she resumes schools, she has to identify with the clique of white girls to avoid being bullied. Birdie decides to move to Boston to reunite with her family because she felt betrayed after discovering her mother was in touch with the rest of the family. She stays there until she gets to know about her father's whereabouts and reunites with him and Cole. However, Deck dismisses Birdie’s struggle for identity. In California, she is surrounded by mixed people just like her, which helps her reconnect with her blackness. Throughout the novel, Birdie struggles with her identity. Many people assigned her an identity based on her looks.

Compare and Contrast

There are some similarities and differences in how Birdie and Ari navigate their difficult transitions. Ari's identity crisis centered on his sexuality, Birdie's identity crisis was around her race, and the parents to both the characters were blind to their identity issues. Birdie had Cole hold her hand through even if it was not consistently, while Ari had Dante as a companion through his self-discovery journey. They both had someone to walk with them. At some point, they both had to conform to fit in according to how society perceives them. Ari tried to be the perfect kid to please his parents. On the other hand, Birdie conformed her race depending on her environment and would even change her hair, dress code, and how she talked to fit in.

They also didn't really fit in with one side of their cultural-heritage background. Ari was a blend of the Mexican-American culture, and Birdie was a blend of Caucasian and African American cultures. The family secrets built a ridge between the two characters and their families. Sandy secretly communicating with the rest of the family cost her relationship with Birdie, while Ari not being able to come out to his family pushed him away from them. In the end, Ari got tired of conforming to society's expectations and carved his path where he embraced himself as he was. Ari decided to identify herself with her blackness and surround herself with environments that were conducive to that.

Conclusion

In both stories, the characters face identity challenges in their childhood that they later figure out how to deal with the issues. In "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe", Aristotle Mendoza, referred to as Ari, is a 15-year-old living in Texas in 1987. He is from a family of two sisters and an older brother, Bernardo, that is in Prison. The other person that he interacts with is Dante. The way Ari’s parents’ deal with Bernardo’s loss reflects in how he deals with his identity. It reveals when he says that guys made him feel uncomfortable like he didn't belong. He was embarrassed by his sexual orientation. The reflection later contributes to his fear of "coming out” because of the archaic belief that a man being sexually fluid made him less of a man. He remodels himself into a person that he thinks will appease his parents. This is because he feels obliged to act ideal since his elder brother turned out to be a disappointment.

Works Cited

Senna, Danzy. Caucasia. 2012, books.google.com/books/about/Caucasia.html?id=QxVzAvWnd8IC.

Senz, Benjamin Alire. “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe.” Google Books, Simon and Schuster, 21 Feb. 2012, books.google.com/books/about/Aristotle_and_Dante_Discover_the_Secrets.html?id=OVAViCqeKFYC.