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On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 9
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
Smith shows Howard how to save high-definition photos of Rembrandt paintings from online for his lectures, so that he can give them to Smith to put into a PowerPoint presentation. Howard frets about all the different ways people might react to his upcoming lecture.
This scene humorously suggests that Howard was asking Smith about how to deal with online photos, claiming that it was for his Rembrandt presentation when in fact what may have spurred his question were the nude photo email attachments that Victoria sent him.
Themes
Back at his desk in his office, Howard gets absorbed with using the zoom function on a digitization of a Rembrandt painting. Levi startles him by coming in to see him. Howard asks why Levi isn’t in school, and Levi says apparently when the temperature falls below a certain degree, students can legally go home and teachers can’t say anything. Howard assumes Levi has come to him for money, and Levi acts offended, even though he is asking for money. Levi guiltily admits that he lost the mega-store job but promises to pay Howard back at some point.
When Howard uses the zoom function, he is still thinking about the photos of Victoria he received, and so his anger at Levi for surprising him is partly a way for Howard to work through his own feelings of guilt. Once again, Howard places particularly tough scrutiny on Levi about the issue of money—presumably Howard and Kiki are spending a lot of money to send Jerome to Brown without complaining—suggesting that Howard’s inability to understand Levi’s life choices makes Howard judge him more harshly.
Themes
As Levi is leaving Howard’s Wellington office, he runs into Carl. Levi is surprised to hear about Carl’s new position as the hip-hop archivist. Levi is so surprised about this that Carl gets offended. Just then, Victoria walks by, and Carl makes a loud comment about how good her butt looks. Levi gets embarrassed, since he thought Carl would be above making comments like that, and he realizes he doesn’t actually know Carl that well.
Although Levi tries to reject Howard’s ideas about high and low culture, he nevertheless has internalized some of them. For example, Levi finds it strange that the streetwise Carl has managed to get a fairly cushy university job while Carl himself sees no reason why he shouldn’t deserve it.
Themes
Meanwhile, Victoria storms into Howard’s office and scolds him for how he acted at the hotel the other day. As uncomfortable as Howard feels, he also realizes that he really likes Victoria. Still, he decides to leave.
Once again, Howard fails to live up to his ideals, realizing that he should treat Victoria better but avoiding the issue by leaving in the middle of a conversation.
Themes
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As Howard leaves the university, he passes Keller Library and sees Monty giving a lecture to a big audience that includes Kiki. Howard goes home and waits for Kiki. When she lies about taking the afternoon off, he confronts her about seeing her at the lecture. Kiki tries to defend herself, saying she just wants to hear other points of view.
Although Howard accuses Kiki of being interested in Monty’s conservative viewpoints, in fact the issue is more complicated. Like Howard himself, Kiki seems to be driven more by personal motives, and her interest in Monty seems to be motivated by a fascination for why Howard hates him so much.
Themes
Howard says nothing Monty says is of value—he’s just a fascist who wants to do things like abolish Roe v. Wade. Kiki gets angry and accuses Howard of always being ironic and refusing to say what he really feels. Howard says everything Monty believes is a lie, but Kiki says Howard has no right to talk about lying.
Roe v. Wade was a Supreme Court ruling that guaranteed the right to abortion in the United States from 1973 to 2022, when it was controversially overturned. Kiki doesn’t necessarily agree with Monty’s extreme political beliefs and seems to mostly be challenging Howard himself.
Themes
Howard asks Kiki why she loves him, or at least used to love him. Kiki is hesitant to answer at first, but eventually she says that it feels like she’s always loved Howard and implies that she hasn’t ever stopped. Soon after, they start having sex, even though the door isn’t locked and their children could come home.
Even in the middle of arguing, Howard and Kiki each can’t escape the fact that they love each other. While part of this love seems to be based on an emotional relationship, it’s also noteworthy that they immediately have sex, suggesting that physical beauty plays a role in keeping them together despite their differences.
Themes
After sex, Kiki seems regretful at first, but Howard assures her it was a good thing. Kiki repeats that she still loves Howard, but she suggests that maybe he’s not the right person for her anymore—she doesn’t want to watch him go through “adolescence” again. She says she’s been menopausal for three months and that Howard hasn’t even noticed. She consoles Howard that 30 years of happy marriage is far more than most people ever get. Howard begins to cry and begs for just a little more time with her.
While Howard sees this moment at the start of a new phase of their marriage, Kiki already has a sense of finality. She makes her comments about Howard’s “adolescence” even before she knows that Howard has recently had sex with the literal adolescent Victoria. It’s also significant that Kiki starts to think about the ending of her marriage around the same time that she hits menopause, another important transitional period that marks the end of one phase of life.
Themes
