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On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 7
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
Levi was angry about his sleep being interrupted because he has to get up early the next day to make it to Boston before school. In the morning, he grabs some packets of instant soup and rice pilaf before taking the bus. Although Levi doesn’t read often, on the bus, he continues to struggle through a few pages in the book on American involvement in Haiti that he’s been reading.
Levi’s actions at the beginning of this chapter are mysterious, perhaps suggesting that Levi himself doesn’t even know what he’s doing. Levi’s struggle with the book about American involvement in Haiti shows how he differs from his academic father and siblings, but it also perhaps suggests that he has a sincere passion that he’s willing to stick with, something that can’t always be said of the other Belseys.
Themes
Levi arrives in a part of Boston where everyone is Black. He checks an address on a piece of paper he has and then goes to an apartment where Chouchou lives. When Levi knocks, Chouchou sounds half awake and surprised to see Levi. Levi explains that he’s been worried about Chouchou recently (since he has the most tattered clothes out of the street hawkers, always looks disheveled, and missed showing up to work recently), so Levi decided to visit in person.
Levi’s decision to barge in on Chouchou in his home is well-intentioned but also potentially an invasion of privacy. In some ways, it recalls the sort of thing Howard would do, like when he showed up at the Kippses’ house at the beginning of the novel. Also like Howard, Levi struggles with his feelings and doesn’t know how to properly express that he cares about Chouchou.
Themes
Chouchou says that he’s fine and that Levi needs to find some hobbies, but he invites him into his apartment anyway. Chouchou’s apartment is small and cold, and it smells of marijuana. Levi offers Chouchou the food he brought, but Chouchou refuses any sort of charity. Levi explains that it isn’t charity—it’s a tradition in America to bring food when you visit someone, and the food Levi brought was all he could find.
Although initially it seemed as if Levi was being rude by barging in on Chouchou, as the interaction goes on, it becomes clear that Chouchou is actually glad to see Levi. In fact, Chouchou has some of the same distant qualities to him as Howard, and Levi’s attempts to please the former teacher Chouchou could in some ways be a proxy for his attempts to please his professor father.
Themes
Chouchou offers Levi water or rum, and Levi takes some water. Levi asks if Chouchou has any music, but he doesn’t, so Levi connects his iPod to his own speaker that he brought. Chouchou offers Levi part of a joint, but Levi says he doesn’t smoke because he’s asthmatic. They listen to Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet, which Chouchou knows all the words to because he had a bootleg of it.
Although the novel has at times presented a skeptical view of how well hip-hop represents Black culture (showing how Levi’s hip-hop-inspired worldview is limited), this passage affirms the power of hip-hop and shows how it can connect people who come from different backgrounds and even different countries.
Themes
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Chouchou tells Levi that not all the street hawkers are as poor as him—Felix actually lives in a big house in Wellington, and Felix once saw Levi in Wellington. Levi lies and says he was only in Wellington because his uncle lives there. Chouchou tells Levi about how he used to be a French literature teacher in Haiti, but just the other day, he went to work an event at Wellington College as a server instead of as a teacher.
Levi idolized Felix as the most authentic version of Blackness, but in fact, Felix’s origin may not be much different from Levi’s. While the novel doesn’t totally discard the concept of authenticity, it does show how in the real world, authenticity can be complex, and people like Chouchou or Felix don’t fit into popular stereotypes about Blackness.
Themes
Chouchou tells Levi to stop playing American music and put on some Bob Marley. He continues to talk about working as a server at an event at Wellington and how he saw Monty, sitting at his table like some member of the nobility. Levi mentions that he knows Monty, although he feels embarrassed after he reveals this. Chouchou says everyone in his community knows about Monty and that he is “a liar and a thief.” Chouchou felt like he was selling his soul by pouring Monty’s wine.
Chouchou feels that he is Monty’s equal and that their different life outcomes are only due to circumstance. This makes it particularly galling for Chouchou that Monty not only is more successful but also credits his success solely on his own hard work without acknowledging how people like Chouchou also work hard and yet do not have the same level of success. Chouchou calls Monty a “thief” because he feels that Monty has stolen some of the success that Chouchou himself deserves.
Themes
Meanwhile, Kiki goes over to visit the Kipps house unannounced, bringing a gift from a local bakery. Monty is shocked to see her. Kiki gets ready to leave, but Monty invites her in. He says he’ll be back in a minute. Soon after, Chantelle comes out, looking like she’s been crying until she sees Kiki and suddenly looks angry. Monty makes plans to see Chantelle again during lunchtime in his office.
Given how many other ways Howard and Monty are opposites, the fact that Chantelle is at Monty’s house seems to strongly hint that the two of them are having an inappropriate, perhaps even sexual, relationship. The fact that Monty makes plans to see Chantelle again during his lunch hour—traditionally a social time instead of a business time—further reinforces that their relationship lacks boundaries.
Themes
Kiki mentions that she thinks Zora knows Chantelle. Monty complains about how young people all have unrealistic expectations. He explains that Chantelle can’t afford to pay for a class she’s taking, so she came to Monty to see if he’d write a letter to the board recommending that she stay in the class. He rants about why he disagrees with reparations and believes in meritocracy.
Reparations is the philosophy that victims of slavery and their descendants should receive some sort of aid as repayment for the injustice of slavery and for the disadvantages that the descendants of enslaved people face. As a philosophy, it clashes directly with Monty’s idea of meritocracy. Meritocracy is the idea that people rise or fall in society based on where they deserve to be. Meritocracy only makes sense if everyone is equal, and so Monty opposes reparations because to acknowledge the need for reparations would be to acknowledge that not everyone in society has the same opportunities.
Themes
Kiki promises that even though Zora is arguing in support of students like Chantelle, Kiki herself has no grudge against the Kippses. She notices that the Hyppolite painting of the woman is gone and asks where it went. Monty gets suspicious and says he moved it to his office in the Black Studies department.
Kiki genuinely doesn’t know what’s going on with the Hyppolite painting, and so Monty’s suspicions of her motives show how his conservatism has led him to have a paranoid worldview where everyone is out to get him.
Themes
Kiki and Monty walk together toward the center of town. Kiki says she has complicated feelings about affirmative action herself. Monty explains that he believes people have to earn opportunities or else the whole system gets devalued. He complains about “a culture of victimhood.” Kiki argues back against some of Monty’s points, but Monty claims that liberals believe too much in fairy tales, with the most important fairy tale being that all conservatives are motivated by self-hatred.
Although Kiki doesn’t view the world in political terms quite like her husband or Monty, her radical past suggests that she is capable of considering political issues more seriously than others give her credit for. But when Kiki tries to engage with Monty about the merits of affirmative action as a policy, Monty instead goes off on new tangents, suggesting that he was never truly interested in conversation and mostly just wanted to give a sermon.
Themes
