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Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 10
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in On Beauty, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Nature of Beauty
Politics in Academia
Race and Identity
The Value of Family
Summary
Analysis
When Kiki returns home, she already has a party guest: Christian von Kepper, a man Howard added to the list at the last minute after Kiki had already removed him. Kiki watches Howard with Christian and is amazed to see Howard actually listening to him—Howard never listens to her. Christian is younger than Howard and also listens whenever Howard talks. Howard is not the most popular professor on campus, but his few “fans” are very devoted.
It hurts Kiki to see that Howard can easily communicate with people he doesn’t know well when he struggles to relate to his own family. This passage hints at the type of relationships that Howard is interested in—rather than trying to maintain an equal partnership like a marriage, Howard is more interested in relationships where he can be the guru and impress people with his intellect—something he’s unable to do with Kiki.
Themes
After Christian finishes talking to Howard, Murdoch the dog starts bothering him. Kiki comes over to ask if he needs help. He denies it at first, but eventually, Kiki helps him by moving Murdoch away.
This passage reveals that, like Howard himself, Howard’s fans on campus also struggle with everyday social interactions.
Themes
Kiki goes over to talk to Meredith, Christian’s friend who likes wearing elaborate costumes to parties. For this one, she’s wearing a wide circle skirt. Kiki compliments the outfit, which pleases Meredith. Eventually, Meredith tells Kiki that she and Christian put together a present for Howard. She says they couldn’t afford real pearls for a 30th anniversary, so instead they give him a framed Shakespeare poem that mentions pearls. Kiki says Howard will like it since he likes text more than paintings.
It's ironic that the secular Howard has a fan named Christian. This suggests that, as much as Howard rails against religious people like Monty, Howard has no problem when people “worship” him. This reveals his hypocrisy. It’s also interesting that Howard is writing a book about Rembrandt (who is perhaps most famous for his self-portraits) when Howard himself doesn’t even like paintings of humans. Howard seems to dedicate a substantial portion of his time and energy to things he doesn’t actually like.
Themes
Howard is happy to see so many people at his anniversary party, but he gets irritated at one point when he realizes he hasn’t seen Zora in a while. He goes to ask Kiki about Zora. Then he asks why Monique the cleaner never showed up with a friend to help like she promised. Kiki doesn’t know but jokes that Monique and her friend must have a feud with Christian.
Just as Howard constantly looks for flaws in Rembrandt, he constantly looks for flaws in his own life, and he lets his worries about Zora get in the way of him enjoying his otherwise-successful anniversary party. Meanwhile, Kiki has a joke at Howard’s expense when she suggests that Monique didn’t show up because of a dispute with Christian—the joke is that only academics like Howard hold serious grudges over small things, whereas a cleaner like Monique probably has more important things to worry about.
Themes
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Howard starts flirting with Kiki, whom he hasn’t had sex with in a long time. But the bell of the front door rings and interrupts them. Kiki goes upstairs to see if Zora is there and will come down. As she goes, Howard asks if it’s true that Kiki invited the Kippses to come over to the party. Kiki says she did invite Charlene but isn’t sure if any of the Kippses will actually come. Howard goes to answer the door.
One of Howard’s redeeming qualities is that he still does see Kiki’s beauty, despite her fears to the contrary. Still, Kiki has mixed feelings about this, because while Howard can see her surface beauty, he still sometimes struggles to see her on a deeper level. This adds to the book’s examination of the nature of beauty. The ringing doorbell in this scene shows how Howard and Kiki often have to put their relationship on pause to deal with new obstacles that arise.
Themes
