Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. The author’s use of an epistolary form demonstrates how Ari’s and Dante’s lives change when Dante moves to Chicago.

• What is the primary purpose of the letters between Ari and Dante, as a literary device to advance the plot? (topic sentence)
• What do the letters reveal about Ari and Dante? Give several specific examples.
• In your conclusion, reflect upon the impact created by the epistolary form of the narrative as opposed to a more straightforward narrative style. Consider how letters might be a more intimate way of revealing certain facts about Ari and Dante.

2. The desert is one element of the natural world that the author uses to convey a truth about the characters.

• Focusing on the character of Ari, what does the desert represent in the story? (topic sentence)
• Why does Ari feel such an attraction and connection to the desert? Support your answer with details from the text.
• In your conclusion, connect Ari’s connection to the desert to larger themes in the novel related to Overcoming Shame and The Mystery of Love.

3. The protagonists, Ari and Dante, are both Latinx characters, and their unique cultural upbringing is mentioned many times throughout the novel.

• How does culture play an important part in bringing Ari and Dante together? (topic sentence)
• What role does the boys’ shared Latinx ethnicity play in the story as it unfolds? Give examples from several different points in the plot.
• In your conclusion, discuss how Ari’s sexuality and culture intertwine, sending an important message about Society’s Conventions—particularly for Latinx youth—and Overcoming Shame.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. How does the author use the natural world as a metaphor for Ari’s and Dante’s experiences? How does the author use facets of nature as a symbol of the characters’ emotional condition? How does the author deploy metaphors to explain Ari’s changing emotions? Reflect upon how the changing seasons and weather are connected to changes in the characters’ inner worlds, citing no less than three examples in the text in which the author draws from nature.

2. Reflect upon the title of the novel. What are the “secrets of the universe” that Dante and Ari discover over the course of the book? How do they help each other discover these secrets? In your essay, pay special consideration to the final section of the novel, entitled “All the Secrets of the Universe.” Are these secrets, especially as they are revealed in Part 6, an objective reality, or are they something more subjective? Are they both?

3. Ari’s dreams are symbolic and even prophetic at times. What is the importance of dreams in driving the narrative? How do Ari’s and his father’s dreams promote their growth and transformation throughout the novel? In your essay, perform a close, line-by-line analysis of two dreams, one of Ari’s and one of his father’s. How do Ari and his father learn things through their dreams that they were not consciously aware of?