aristotle and dante essay topics

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

By benjamin alire saenz, aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe themes.

Both Dante and Ari are exploring their own sexuality and learning about themselves. They are at different stages of their respective journies of self-discovery. Dante knows that he is gay, and has come to terms with that when we first meet him. Although there is some deliberation (he thinks he would like kissing boys more than he likes kissing girls) he is at heart certain that he is attracted to men, and that he is gay, and he is actually very comfortable with that.

Ari is at a far different stage. Prior to meeting Dante, it would never have occurred to him that he might be gay. The moment he meets Dante he is infatuated, and he later admits that he was in love the moment that he set eyes on him. Ari is in denial about his sexuality. He actively seeks out girls to kiss and has a genuine attraction to and crush on Illeana. He also becomes angry within himself when he realizes that he is in love with Dante but he doesn't want to admit it. He even rejects Dante's attempts to kiss him, or to get him to feel something when they eventually do kiss.

Dante's chief concern is how his parents will react to his coming out, and this is also one of the sub-themes within this theme of sexuality. The reaction of those around the boys is studied quite closely, and it turns out that both sets of parents are well aware that the boys are in love with each other before they are told— and, in Ari's case, before he is even prepared to admit it to himself.

Anti-Gay Discrimination

As well as dealing with a theme of sexuality, the novel also has a theme of discrimination against gay people. This is seen both through a violent act against Dante and the quieter ostracization of Ari's aunt Ophelia.

Ophelia has been shunned by all of her family, except for Ari's parents, because she is a lesbian, and because they have discovered that she is living with her female partner. Although the discrimination against her is not physically violent, it is still a scary prospect. Therefore, the fact that Ari's parents are the only ones who continue to accept her makes Ari less afraid about how his parents will react to the news of his homosexuality; they are clearly people who stand up for what they feel is right, and who are accepting, without worrying what the people around them think. They are the opposite of people who discriminate.

Dante is beaten up because of his sexuality. When thugs see him kissing Daniel , they beat him up, purely because of this expression of his sexuality. Dante is prepared to stand up for himself but Daniel does not, and this shows that Daniel is not yet ready to be "out" as a gay man or to be proud of his sexuality.

Ari feels isolated from everyone. He is very lonely and he does not have any friends. However, he is also isolated from his family. This is primarily because they are very non-demonstrative people, and they keep their feelings close to their chest. This makes Ari feel very isolated when it comes to certain subjects. For example, he is frustrated about the silence surrounding what has happened to his brother. The family acts as if Bernardo is dead, and they don't explain why. This is a very isolating experience. He is also very isolated socially before he meets Dante, because he does not have any friends.

Family Dynamics

Dante's family is very close and they are very comfortable showing their affection for each other. They frequently say "I love you" and they talk about any issues that arise. This is a stark contrast to Ari's family, which is silently loving but dysfunctional.

There is a lot of love in the Mendoza family, but it is tacit. Everyone plays their cards very close to their chest and consequently, Ari feels like his parents don't know him, and he doesn't know them either. As the novel progresses, his relationship with them deepens and opens up more and he finds that he thinks much more of them as people than he believed he ever would. The main issue in their relationship is the deep denial that, in their own way, each family member engages in.

Ari's father is in denial about what he experienced in Vietnam, and he believes that if he doesn't talk about it to anyone then it didn't really happen. He won't talk to his wife about how he feels and he has never told Ari anything about his time in the war. Ari's mother had a nervous breakdown when his brother was arrested for murder, and was unable to look after Ari for a time. She cannot talk about this because it was such a difficult time and she cannot tell Ari about his brother. The family pretends that he is dead so they don't have to face the reality of his life. However, all of the secrets within the family make it very dysfunctional and it is only when things are brought out into the open that the family dynamics change and improve immeasurably.

Mexican-American Heritage

One of the themes of the book is that of Mexican-American heritage and the way in which both boys interpret their ethnicity. Although there are no incidents of discrimination against them, there are a number of stereotypes dealt with in the book, including gang membership (Illeana's boyfriend is a low-ranking member of a Mexican street gang) and also the traditional view of masculinity and manhood within the Mexican community.

Coming of Age

Much of the book centers around Ari's coming of age as a teenager, moving through all of its awkward physical, mental, and emotional changes. As the novel progresses, both Ari and Dante mature physically and emotionally, and beyond just being about discovering their sexual orientations, Aristotle and Dante is very much a novel about two boys who are on the verge of becoming adults, and what that might mean for them. Ari struggles with what it means to grow up, particularly in the shadow of a brother he has never really known.

Secrets and Telling the Truth

The whole book centers around the secrets people keep from each other and from themselves. Part of Ari's fascination with Dante is that Dante, unlike anyone else in Ari's life, seems incapable of lying to or about himself and incapable of even really keeping secrets. Dante's openness is juxtaposed with the secrets that seem to characterize Ari's family, from his father's struggles in Vietnam to his brother's imprisonment to his own feelings for Dante. Arguably, the most important thing Ari—as well as other characters—learn throughout the course of the text is how to be honest in a variety of ways.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

what does art mean to ari? to his father? why?

During his time in Chicago, Dante (as he reveals in his letters) frequently visits the Art Institute of Chicago, a world-class art gallery. There he becomes emotionally attached to two paintings which represent key aspects of his life:...

What do we learn about Bernardo’s tragedy . Do you think Ari and his brother Bernardo might be similar in some ways? If so, how and in what ways?

Considering that we never see Bernardo, who is Ari's brother, in person, he is a surprisingly important character in the novel. His absence is felt strongly by Ari who feels that he is missing out on an older brother and also wants to know the...

Why is Dante so important in the novel?

Dante differs from Ari in that he knows he is gay and although he questions whether he prefers kissing boys or kissing girls, he in his heart already knows the answer. Dante is in love with Ari but unlike his friend does not try to deny this. He...

Study Guide for Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe study guide contains a biography of Benjamin Alire Saenz, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz.

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By Benjamin Alir Sáenz

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz. Simon & Schuster BFYR. 2012. Copy from library. Printz Honor Book.

“I can teach you how to swim.”

With those words, Ari meets Dante Quintana, also fifteen. And makes a friend. In some ways they are opposites — Ari is quiet, Dante talkative and confident. But they make each other laugh.

Through ups and downs, good times and bad, even long distance, their friendship endures and grows. Ari still feels alone, though; and when Dante tells Ari that Dante prefers kissing boys, Ari isn’t sure what to do. Or how he feels. Or what he wants.

The Good : Another terrific selection by this year’s Printz committee!

Ari tells the story, and oh, Ari is so — alone. He has such barriers up. Why? He has parents who love him, yes, but his father, a Vietnam Vet, is not a talker and Ari craves communication. Perhaps that explains part of the reason he likes Dante, because Dante and his family are talkers and huggers.

Ari’s family holds secrets, secrets that are danced around. His father’s nightmares from Vietnam. Ari’s older brother, now in prison, whose name and crime are never mentioned. Other secrets are ones that Ari doesn’t even guess at, but the secrecy colors his life and is part of the reason Ari isolates himself.

Aristotle and Dante is not just about the friendship between young men; it’s also about family. And love. And acceptance. And connections. And good people trying to do the right thing. And it’s the power of meeting someone, and being known, and kissing, and holding hands.

I also loved the diversity in Aristotle and Dante ; both boys are second or third generation Mexican American. Dante talks about not being as Mexican as Ari, because Dante’s skin isn’t as dark. Mentions are made about the amount of Spanish that is (or isn’t) spoken at home, food that is eaten. Dante is the only child of a college professor and a psychologist; Ari’s parents are a high school teacher and mailman, and Ari is the youngest of four with several nieces and nephews. So there is diversity in terms of the main characters being Mexican American, but also in terms of what being a “Mexican American” means.

Dante likes boys; this is shown gradually, over the course of the book, as Dante himself comes to realize it. I don’t want to get spoilery here, but — well, here’s the thing. Sometimes, I watch movies with my mother and she turns to me and she asks, “I don’t want to know how it happens, but will this have a good ending? Will it be OK for that character?” And so I won’t tell the details, and I won’t say it’s easy, but I’ll say — it’ll be OK for Ari. It’ll be OK for Dante. It’ll be more than OK. And when I cried at the end of this book, it was in part happy tears.

The secondary characters are also so fully drawn that even when they are on the page for only a short time, I feel like I know them. That they are as real as Ari and Dante; but of course, it is Ari and Dante, and especially Ari, that is known best. And oh, the quotes! Because this is Ari’s story, all are him talking. “But love was something heavy for me. Something I had to carry.” “When do we start feeling like the world belongs to us?” “Maybe I wanted too much.” How could I not love Ari?

One last thing. As the story of Ari’s older brother was gradually revealed, as well as the depth of the impact of his crime and loss on the family, I had some “well what about thoughts” about Bernardo. In book print in my reading journal, I have “BUT WHAT ABOUT BERNARDO??” written down. I sternly told myself, this is Ari’s story, don’t be so demanding as a reader. And then — and then — what Aristotle and Dante delivered to me. It was perfect.

The combination of language; Ari; Ari’s beautiful family; Dante; and the warmth and goodness and compassion, even in the presence of hate; for all of these, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is a Favorite Book Read in 2013.

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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Essay Topics & Writing Assignments

Essay Topic 1

Ari is not content with his life in Section 1. Why does Ari think that his life is someone else's idea, and why is that a major problem in his life?

Essay Topic 2

Ari's family is very different from Dante's family. How are the two families alike and unalike and how does that affect each boy's perception of the world around him?

Essay Topic 3

Dante's mother doesn't want him looking like a poor Mexican. What does Dante do that makes his mother think people will believe he is a poor Mexican, and why does it bother her so much that her son would be viewed as poor and Mexican?

Essay Topic 4

Ari's father changed when he returned from the Vietnam war. How did Ari's father change and how did that affect the way that Ari's father lived his life and his relationships with his family, especially with...

(read more Essay Topics)

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Views on Writing Style by Plato, Aristotle and Dante Analytical Essay

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Plato was one of the first philosophers to discuss the importance of the way in which a message is presented. Plato developed his method of coming to truth, and he called it dialectics. Dialectics is a process of coming to truth in which two opposing sides, thesis and antithesis, are presented by two people in the form of argumentation.

Every person states their opinion and supports it with arguments. In the end of a dialogue or a debate, the truth is supposed to emerge from the clash of the two opinions, and the defeated one is morally obliged to accept the force of a better argument.

In this process, logic or reason is crucial. Plato believed that each of the persons in a debate has to obey logic, and can examine the logic of the opponent’s argumentation, and if any contradictions or fallacies are found, they can reveal them, thereby winning the argument.

Since reason is very important to Plato, he strongly opposed the use of any other rhetorical devices. He claimed that appeal to emotion in an argument is not only wrong but dangerous. For that reason, he is known for saying that poets have no place in an Ideal state.

Aristotle realizes Plato’s idea of rhetoric expressed in “Phedre”. This idea, for Aristotle, still corresponds to dialectics. Which means that persuasion has to have its foundation in logic. However, there is a difference between rhetoric and pure dialectics in that the former is concerned with style and the latter with the truth. In Aristotle’s works, the two are not mutually exclusive but complementary.

The differences and similarities between rhetoric and dialectics open up the problem of language and thought. Plato and Aristotle solve this problem favoring thought. They claim that thought can always find a word through which logos and truth will speak.

In that light, language has to emancipate itself from myth, and be subordinated to logos. Aristotle, however, finds that this task is impossible; language has an inseparable mythic element to it. In speech, this mythic component gives strength to what is said.

In the end, he claims that there is no separation of argumentation and style, and a person has to incorporate style into the delivery of a message. It is, nonetheless, crucial to respect the logos, without which any sort of style is vacuous.

Dante was an Italian poet, who lived in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The period in which he lived is important because it is the period of renaissance and the rebirth of Ancient Greek ideas.

In his view on rhetoric, Dante is closer to Aristotle, he believes that wisdom without rhetoric and eloquence is worth little, but eloquence without wisdom is worse. It is crucial to utilize all the potentials of language as a means to deliver the truth to the masses.

In this immense potential of language to appeal to human emotions, Dante recognized a real threat and danger. For that reason, he found a place in his Inferno for those who use language to take advantage of people. That place was in the eighth circle, alongside thieves and falsifiers.

He also placed poets like Horace and Ovid in this circle, and admitted that they are his likes. One can find the influence of Plato in these claims. From this ambivalence, it is evident that he was struggling with the problem of language and thought just like his great masters Plato and Aristotle.

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IvyPanda. (2019, June 26). Views on Writing Style by Plato, Aristotle and Dante. https://ivypanda.com/essays/views-on-writing-style-by-plato-aristotle-and-dante/

"Views on Writing Style by Plato, Aristotle and Dante." IvyPanda , 26 June 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/views-on-writing-style-by-plato-aristotle-and-dante/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Views on Writing Style by Plato, Aristotle and Dante'. 26 June.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Views on Writing Style by Plato, Aristotle and Dante." June 26, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/views-on-writing-style-by-plato-aristotle-and-dante/.

1. IvyPanda . "Views on Writing Style by Plato, Aristotle and Dante." June 26, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/views-on-writing-style-by-plato-aristotle-and-dante/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Views on Writing Style by Plato, Aristotle and Dante." June 26, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/views-on-writing-style-by-plato-aristotle-and-dante/.

Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World

79 pages • 2 hours read

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-17

Part 1, Chapters 18-35

Part 2, Chapters 1-13

Part 3, Chapters 1-19

Part 4, Chapters 1-20

Part 4, Chapters 21-41

Part 5, Chapters 1-25

Part 5, Chapters 26-50

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The Psychological Impact of Discrimination and Challenging Shame and Injustice

Growing up as Latino and gay in the south in the 1980s, Ari becomes familiar with the psychological and emotional impact of discrimination. When he finally comes to terms with his orientation, Ari grapples with feelings of shame, regret, sadness, otherness, and despair. As the story progresses and as Ari continues to grow as a person and come into his identity, he learns to weather the effects of discrimination and confront his shame.

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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Benjamin alire sáenz.

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe presents two opposing visions of how people can relate to others: Ari and his family are overwhelmingly silent and ignore past trauma, such as Dad ’s experiences in the Vietnam War and the reason why Ari’s older brother, Bernardo , is in prison. Dante and his family, on the other hand, are open, communicative, and affectionate with each other and with others. Especially as Ari begins to connect with Dad and figure out what happened to Bernardo, the novel goes to great lengths to show that remaining silent about something can be just as traumatizing as experiencing something traumatic firsthand, while speaking and attempting to connect with others is possibly not a foolproof way to guard against trauma, but is certainly more effective than silence.

When it comes to trauma, Aristotle and Dante clearly show that trauma is as much something that happens in an instant (as when the car hits Ari) as it is something that’s passed down through generations. While Ari, who was born after Dad’s return from Vietnam, has no memories of his dad before the war or his return, he nevertheless suffers, too, from his dad’s trauma. Dad’s silence and unwillingness to speak to Ari about anything, especially the war, makes Ari feel even more alone and put-upon. Mom tells Ari that Dad carries the war inside him, something that Ari sees happening to him too—he may not remember the war, but he lives day in and day out with another person’s trauma of the war. Especially given Ari’s belief that Dad should be more available to him to teach him about how to be a man in the world and guide him toward adulthood, Dad’s silence is especially offensive to Ari. Dad’s secrecy about the war means that he’s not just depriving Ari of a relationship, he’s also inadvertently teaching Ari that the only way to deal with trauma is through silence.

In Dad’s defense, he’s not the only one in the family who uses silence and withdrawal to cope with their trauma. In addition to Dad’s silence about the Vietnam War, Ari’s primary conflict with his parents has to do with the silence and the mystery surrounding Bernardo, Ari’s older brother, who ended up in prison when Ari was four. Ari sees that his parents and sisters act as though Bernardo is dead or doesn’t exist to them—indeed, the reader doesn’t even learn Bernardo’s name until much later in the novel, reinforcing the sense of secrecy and silence around the topic. Similarly to the way that Ari feels that he has to live with the trauma of Dad’s experience with the war, Ari feels as though he also has to suffer because of what’s happening to his brother. All Ari knows for much of the novel is that Bernardo was an angry boy who got too violent one time—and so Ari feels the pressure to not be violent or step out of line. He feels that it is his obligation to take on the traditional role of the oldest male sibling in his family—all without knowing exactly what it is he’s supposed to be avoiding in the first place. This is made even more difficult by the fact that Ari is angry; he’s a teenage boy under a lot of pressure that he doesn’t fully understand. Because of this, when bad things do happen to him, he feels he has no choice but to lash out at others whether they deserve it or not—and in this way, he perpetuates the cycle of silence, violence, and trauma because he feels he has no choice but to do so and no way to remedy the silence in his own home.

Dante, and the Quintana family as a whole, present a very different view of how to interact with others. Dante himself often cries, and his whole family is open and physically affectionate with each other. The novel suggests that this way of existing is healthier in many ways, if scary for someone like Ari—though he’s somewhat jealous and wonders what it’d be like to kiss his dad in greeting, Dante’s insistence that Ari talk is still wildly uncomfortable for Ari. This makes it very clear that relearning how to healthily deal with silence and ultimately break it is a difficult project—indeed, it takes Ari two years, until the very end of the novel, to break his own silence about his sexuality and confess his love to Dante, something that makes him feel freer and happier than he ever has.

As Ari grows up and as his family becomes closer to Dante’s, Ari’s family gradually begins to borrow some of the Quintana family’s willingness to communicate openly. Dad begins to open up about his experience in the war and also tells Ari about what Bernardo did, and importantly for Ari, his parents let him in on the fact that his beloved Aunt Ophelia (who dies suddenly of a stroke) was a lesbian, and so was shunned by everyone in the extended family aside from Mom and Dad. This is important information for Ari as he begins to come to terms with his sexuality. This openness that Ari begins to cultivate with his parents gives him the courage and willingness to be truthful with Dante about his feelings and begin to let go of his anger, making the case that the only way to recover from one’s own trauma or that of one’s family is to begin to talk about it openly and truthfully.

Silence and Trauma vs. Communication ThemeTracker

Silence and Trauma vs. Communication Quotes in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

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.

So I was the son of a man who had Vietnam living inside him. Yeah, I had all kinds of tragic reasons for feeling sorry for myself. Being fifteen didn’t help. Sometimes I thought that being fifteen was the worst tragedy of all.

It made me smile, the way they got along, the easy and affectionate way they talked to each other as if love between a father and a son was simple and uncomplicated. My mom and I, sometimes the thing we had between us was easy and uncomplicated. Sometimes. But me and my dad, we didn’t have that. I wondered what that would be like, to walk into a room and kiss my father.

“My dad says it’s all right if people make fun of you. You know what he said to me? He said, ‘Dante, you’re an intellectual. That’s who you are. Don’t be ashamed of that.’”

I noticed his smile was a little sad. Maybe everyone was a little sad. Maybe so.

“Ari, I’m trying not to be ashamed.”

I knew what it was like to be ashamed. Only, Dante knew why. And I didn’t.

I kept staring down at the floor. And then I heard my father’s voice in the room again. “I have bad dreams too, Ari.”

I wanted to ask him if his dreams were about the war or about my brother. I wanted to ask him if he woke up as scared as me.

All I did was smile at him. He’d told me something about himself. I was happy.

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. So I was stuck with my family’s guilt—a guilt that not even my mother would talk about. She sometimes mentioned my brother in passing. But she never said his name.

This is what I understood: a woman like Mrs. Quintana didn’t use the word “love” very often. When she said that word, she meant it. And one more thing I understood: Dante’s mother loved him more than he would ever know. I didn’t know what to do with that piece of information. So I just kept it inside. That’s what I did with everything. Kept it inside.

I guess it was enough just to hear the sound of Dante’s voice. It was like listening to a song. I kept thinking about the bird with the broken wing. Nobody told me what happened to the bird. And I couldn’t even ask because I would be breaking my own rule about not talking about the accident.

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 him that it was me who should be crying.

Dante had this look on his face. He looked like an angel. And all I wanted to do was put my fist through his jaw. I couldn’t stand my own cruelty.

Maybe my dad just didn’t need words to get by in the world. I wasn’t like that. Well, I was like that on the outside, pretending not to need words. But I wasn’t like that on the inside.

I’d figured something out about myself: on the inside, I wasn’t like my dad at all. On the inside I was more like Dante. That really scared me.

The thing is I love my dad. My mom too. And I keep wondering what they’re going to say when I tell them that someday I want to marry a boy. I wonder how that’s going to go over? I’m the only son. What’s going to happen with the grandchildren thing? I hate that I’m going to disappoint them, Ari. I know I’ve disappointed you too.

“You’re in high school, Ari. You’re not looking for a profession. You’re just looking for a way to earn some money. You’re in transition.”

“In transition? What kind of a Mexican mother are you?”

“I’m an educated woman. That doesn’t un-Mexicanize me, Ari.”

She sounded a little angry. I loved her anger and wished I had more of it. Her anger was different than mine or my father’s. Her anger didn’t paralyze her.

Sometimes parents loved their sons so much that they made a romance out of their lives. They thought our youth could help us overcome everything. Maybe moms and dads forget about this one small fact: being on the verge of seventeen could be harsh and painful and confusing. Being on the verge of seventeen could really suck.

“We’ll play that game,” I said. “That game you made up to beat the hell out of your tennis shoes.”

“It was fun, wasn’t it?”

The way he said that. Like he knew we would never play that game again. We were too old now. We’d lost something and we both knew it.

“I’m sorry about last night,” I said. “It’s just that sometimes I have things running around inside me, these feelings. I don’t always know what to do with them. That probably doesn’t make any sense.” “It sounds normal, Ari.”

“I don’t think I’m so normal.”

“Feeling things is normal.”

“Except I’m angry. And I don’t really know where all that anger comes from.”

“Maybe if we talked more.”

“Well, which one of us is good with words, Dad?”

I left him alone for a while. But then, I decided I wanted to be with him. I decided that maybe we left each other alone too much. Leaving each other alone was killing us.

He looked tired but at that moment, as we sat at the kitchen table, there was something young about him. And I thought that maybe he was changing into someone else.

Everyone was always becoming someone else.

Sometimes, when you were older, you became someone younger. And me, I felt old. How can a guy who’s about to turn seventeen feel old?

“He was so happy that you were going to have another baby. And not just because he was going to be a big brother. And he said, ‘He has to be a boy and he has to like girls.’ That’s what he said. So that you could have grandchildren. So that you could be happy.”

“I don’t care about grandchildren. I care about Dante.”

And loved my father too, for the careful way he spoke. I came to understand that my father was a careful man. To be careful with people and with words was a rare and beautiful thing.

“What am I going to do?”

My father’s voice was soft. “Dante didn’t run. I keep picturing him taking all those blows. But he didn’t run.”

“Okay,” I said. For once in my life, I understood my father perfectly.

And he understood me .

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