Aristotle and Dante
In Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Saenz, the two main characters, Aristotle and Dante navigate social norms of adolescence. Their experiences weigh so much heavier because they are all for the first time. I think that it is crucial to consider how an adolescent views the intensity of a situation regardless of any personal retrospect. As a future educator I will have to set aside my "adult mind" to be more relatable to my students but at the same time be able to use my own education and experience to guide them away from possible mistakes.
One point I can make to how an adolescent views the world would be to a connection to time. For a fifteen year old, a year seems super long because it is only one-fifteenth of their life, but to a sixty year old, a year flies by because it is one-sixtieth of their life. It's all about perspective.
A reoccurrence that I found while reading was how often Ari compared normal instances in life to discovering the universe. The first time (I think) is where he says, "I bet you could sometimes find all of the mysteries of the universe in someone's hand"(pg 140). This is where the theoretical social perspective of Alburt Bandura would come in with his explanation of adolescence being connected to modeling. His idea is that adolescence grow and mature through modeling after those around them. In this case Ari is vicariously being reinforced by his parents and their actions. He is deciding if this is an action that is acceptable to mimic. The next time our protagonist mentions the universe is on page 168. He says, "there was a whole universe waiting to be discovered in a pickup truck"(pg 168). For those of us who have been driving for years, we no longer get any thrill out of the travel. We see our vehicles as means of transportation, but I think it is important to remember the freedom we thought we would gain with our licence and first car. To adult readers, Ari is exaggerating, but we must understand that in his mind, once he gets behind that wheel, the possibilities are endless! There's a whole world to be discovered, no, a whole universe. Later Ari explains, "but, you know, I was experimenting. You know discovering the secrets of the universe. Not that I thought I'd find the secrets of the universe in a Budweiser"(pg 207). I love the sarcasm in this quote, but aside from that, here again we see Ari truly experiencing something new and comparing it to a discovery, even further, a secret of the universe. This hints at the fact that he is looking for something. He is trying to understand himself and the world around him and he feels as though something is being kept from him- like a secret. Like there is some grand discovery to be made and then boom, everything will make sense (if only it were that simple). This also leads to a few good points about his parents keep lot from him which in turn only peaks his sense of being lost even more, but that is a whole other discussion.
The universe is also mentioned on page 213, 231, & 243. There isn't much worth expanding on (especially for a short blog post), but I think that the theme of discovery is definitely prevalent in this book and examining the title and it's relation to the story may be a nice prompt for an analytical essay.
One point I can make to how an adolescent views the world would be to a connection to time. For a fifteen year old, a year seems super long because it is only one-fifteenth of their life, but to a sixty year old, a year flies by because it is one-sixtieth of their life. It's all about perspective.
A reoccurrence that I found while reading was how often Ari compared normal instances in life to discovering the universe. The first time (I think) is where he says, "I bet you could sometimes find all of the mysteries of the universe in someone's hand"(pg 140). This is where the theoretical social perspective of Alburt Bandura would come in with his explanation of adolescence being connected to modeling. His idea is that adolescence grow and mature through modeling after those around them. In this case Ari is vicariously being reinforced by his parents and their actions. He is deciding if this is an action that is acceptable to mimic. The next time our protagonist mentions the universe is on page 168. He says, "there was a whole universe waiting to be discovered in a pickup truck"(pg 168). For those of us who have been driving for years, we no longer get any thrill out of the travel. We see our vehicles as means of transportation, but I think it is important to remember the freedom we thought we would gain with our licence and first car. To adult readers, Ari is exaggerating, but we must understand that in his mind, once he gets behind that wheel, the possibilities are endless! There's a whole world to be discovered, no, a whole universe. Later Ari explains, "but, you know, I was experimenting. You know discovering the secrets of the universe. Not that I thought I'd find the secrets of the universe in a Budweiser"(pg 207). I love the sarcasm in this quote, but aside from that, here again we see Ari truly experiencing something new and comparing it to a discovery, even further, a secret of the universe. This hints at the fact that he is looking for something. He is trying to understand himself and the world around him and he feels as though something is being kept from him- like a secret. Like there is some grand discovery to be made and then boom, everything will make sense (if only it were that simple). This also leads to a few good points about his parents keep lot from him which in turn only peaks his sense of being lost even more, but that is a whole other discussion.
The universe is also mentioned on page 213, 231, & 243. There isn't much worth expanding on (especially for a short blog post), but I think that the theme of discovery is definitely prevalent in this book and examining the title and it's relation to the story may be a nice prompt for an analytical essay.
Something that you brought up that I didn't think about when reading was the idea of getting out of our "adult mind" to understand better. I remember being fifteen and thinking a year was so long. Now I still think it is 2014 sometimes and I can't believe that its been five years since then. Time moves faster when your'e not a teenager. The idea of a car being freedom is incredibly relatable as well. Now I think so little when I drive that I just end up there sometimes not remembering the drive. I remember being fifteen and thinking that these truck keys could take me wherever I want to go. The excitement is gone but not forgotten. Thank you for the interesting post showing me a new method to get in the mind of the writer.
ReplyDelete