The Symbol of Water in Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World

The Ubiquity of Water

From the epigraph that compares love to “the ocean” and “the rain that broke the drought” to the final scene in Paris where Ari envisions himself and Dante as cartographers of a future free from exile, water saturates Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s novel. Rain, swimming pools, the ocean, showers, even the ancient ocean that once covered the gypsum dunes at White Sands—all recur as a single, shifting symbol. Water is never merely a backdrop: it is the element in which the characters reveal their deepest selves and through which they learn to love, grieve, and belong.

Where Water Appears

Concrete occurrences of water include:

• Rain and storms: The first chapter shows Ari and Dante standing under a rain‑threatening sky; Dante tells Ari he tastes like rain (Chapter Two). Later, Ari maps a “Place of Miracles” where he imagines kissing Dante in the rain (Chapter Twenty‑Six). Rain also falls during Ari’s walk to the Quintanas’ house before his trip to Paris (Chapter Forty‑Eight).
• Swimming: Dante is a swimmer; Ari watches him dive and reflects that water is where Dante is most himself (Chapter Seventeen). The two share a splashing war, using the water as an excuse to touch (Chapter Twenty‑Two). Dante once told Ari that swimming is “like making love to the Earth” (Chapter Eleven).
• Ocean and desert as dried ocean: At White Sands, Dante runs into the gypsum dunes shouting “this used to be an ocean” and they kiss, feeling like cartographers of a new world (Chapter Thirty‑Five). Ari’s dream of diving off a cliff into the ocean (Chapter Twenty) and his nightmare of drowning in grief (Chapter Thirty‑Nine) further extend the symbol.
• Showers and tears: Ari’s father takes a ritual shower after work (Chapter Twelve). After his father’s death, Ari’s mother warns him he can drown in his own tears or look up at the sky (Chapter Ten). Ari writes a poem about being taught to swim in stormy waters and then left to drown (Chapter Forty‑Two).

How the Meaning Changes

Water’s significance evolves through the novel, moving from a physical element to an emotional and even spiritual one.

The epigraph frames love as water, air, and rain. By the end, water has become the element Ari and Dante choose to navigate together—notwithstanding the storms of a world that hates them.

Connections to Characters and Themes

Aristotle (Ari) Mendoza

Ari’s relationship with water mirrors his emotional growth. Early on, water is something he observes in Dante (the swimmer) but cannot yet claim for himself. When he begins to imagine kissing Dante in the rain, water becomes a medium for his emerging desire. After his father’s death, Ari must resist drowning in grief; his mother tells him to look up at the sky. He ultimately chooses to dive into the waters of the world by flying to Paris, symbolically leaving his arid interior desert.

Dante Quintana

Dante is the water personified. He loves swimming, knows the physics of water, and teaches Ari that “our bodies are mostly water.” His own name evokes the poet who traversed the underworld; here, Dante navigates love and fear. He reveals his deepest self when he is in water, and he invites Ari to “swim all the waters of the world.” Yet Dante also fears the future and retreats to Paris, only to be brought back by Ari’s active love.

Liliana Mendoza and the Theme of Grief and Healing

Ari’s mother uses water as a metaphor for emotional survival. She tells him he can “drown in your own tears” or choose to live (Chapter Ten). Later, she combs his hair after his father’s funeral, offering comfort without words. Water here represents the choice between being submerged by sorrow or rising to breathe.

The Theme of Belonging vs. Exile

The epigraph declares that love “took you out of exile and carried you to a country called Belonging.” That journey is repeatedly described in water imagery: the ocean that once covered the desert, the river in Ari’s nightmare that separates him from Dante, the raft of the Medusa that Ari reinterprets as his community’s struggle to reach a shore where they are not hated. Water is both the barrier and the passage.

The AIDS Crisis and Social Injustice

Water also carries undertones of the AIDS pandemic. In Ari’s nightmare, Dante dies of AIDS by a river. The activist’s words on the news and the die‑in at the Eiffel Tower (Chapter Forty‑Nine) place the personal story within a public crisis. Water becomes the medium through which characters confront mortality and the hatred that would deny them love.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does the meaning of rain change from the beginning to the end of the novel?
   Answer: Early rain is romantic and intimate—Dante tastes like rain, and Ari imagines kissing him in a storm at the Place of Miracles. Later, rain becomes associated with grief (the morning Ari drives to the Quintanas’ after Dante leaves) and with renewal (the rain that falls before Ari’s final walk to announce his Paris trip). By the end, rain no longer threatens; it accompanies Ari’s decision to act, signalling that he has learned to live with both sorrow and joy.

2. What does water reveal about Dante’s character?
   Answer: Water is where Dante is most fully himself. He swims with abandon, speaks poetically about the physics of water, and uses swimming as a metaphor for intimacy. When he quits the swim team to be closer to Ari (Chapter Seventeen), he chooses emotional closeness over athletic identity. Water reflects his openness, his vulnerability, and his need for a space where he can be uncensored.

3. Why does Ari describe the White Sands dunes as “an ocean” and what does that scene accomplish?
   Answer: The dunes were once an ocean, and Ari and Dante’s kiss there unites the dried past with their living present. In that landscape, they become “cartographers of a new world,” mapping a country of their own where they are free to love. The scene transforms a dead ocean into a place of belonging, showing that love can resurrect meaning even in an arid world.

4. How does Ari’s mother use water imagery to help him through his grief?
   Answer: After Ari’s father dies, his mother tells him he can “drown in your own tears” or choose to look at the sky (Chapter Ten). She challenges his self‑absorbed grief and connects his love for his father with the need to keep living. Water here represents the danger of being overwhelmed by sadness and the agency to swim upward instead of sinking.