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Race and Identity
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in On Beauty, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
On Beauty is the story of two families who have very different values but whose paths keep crossing: the frequently dysfunctional Belsey family and the seemingly close-knit (but secretly dysfunctional) Kipps family At the beginning of the story, Jerome Belsey stays with the Kippses while studying abroad and finds himself longing to be a part of their family, admiring how they eat meals and go to church together. But Jerome’s efforts to become a part of the Kippses backfire after his short engagement to Victoria Kipps ends, reigniting a feud between the fathers of each family, Howard and Monty. Jerome’s experience establishes an essential fact that resonates throughout the rest of the book: a person is stuck with the family they have, and typically only exceptional events like marriage or death can truly change the structure of a family.
Each family experiences challenges that seemingly threaten to break the whole family apart. Howard and Kiki Belsey separate due to Howard’s affairs, first with his old friend and colleague Claire, then with the much-younger Victoria. Meanwhile, several members of the Kipps family have secrets, with Carlene hiding the fact that she has an aggressive form of cancer—despite her family’s regular dinner conversations, no one learns the extent of her illness until after her death. But while these stressful events test the limits of the Belseys and the Kippses, the ending of the book hints at the strength of familial bonds, even in times of great hardship. Kiki reconciles with Howard after his first affair, and even after separating from him, she attends his big lecture and smiles ambiguously from the audience. Meanwhile, Howard’s children, who become more distant to Howard after his affairs, continue to care about him in their own way, with Zora helping her father keep his job after the scandal of his affair with Victoria comes to light. Although On Beauty extensively chronicles the stress, conflict, and heartbreak that can come from being part of a family, it ultimately shows how families are resilient and how even imperfect families can provide stability and comfort in times of hardship.
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The Value of Family ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of The Value of Family appears in each chapter of On Beauty. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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The Value of Family Quotes in On Beauty
Below you will find the important quotes in On Beauty related to the theme of The Value of Family.
Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 1
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Hey, Dad – basically I’m just going to keep on keeping on with these mails – I’m no longer expecting you to reply, but I’m still hoping you will, if that makes sense.
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Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 2
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Kiki slapped the table. ‘Oh, God, this isn’t 1910 – Jerome can marry who the hell he wants to marry – or are we going to start making up visiting cards and asking him to meet only the daughters of academics that you happen to –’
‘Might the address be in the green moleskin?’
Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 4
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‘It’s about trying,’ said Michael keenly – the topic seemed to animate him. ‘It’s like, if you put the effort in. And I spose my mum’s always been at home, which makes a lot of difference, I think. Having the mother figure and all that. Nurturing. It’s like a Caribbean ideal – a lot of people lose sight of it.’
Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 11
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It is an unnatural law of such parties that the person whose position on the guest list was originally the least secure is always the first to arrive. Christian von Klepper’s invitation had been added by Howard, removed by Kiki, reinstated by Howard, removed by Kiki and then, at some later point, apparently extended once more in secret by Howard, for here was Christian, leaning into an alcove in the living room, nodding devotedly at his host.
Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 12
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Too quickly, Claire removed her hand from Howard’s body. But Kiki wasn’t looking at Claire; she was looking at Howard. You’re married to someone for thirty years: you know their face like you know your own name.
‘Tell them to calm themselves. It’s only hip-hop. It won’t kill them.’
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The Anatomy Lesson: Chapter 6
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‘It’s true that men – they respond to beauty . . . it doesn’t end for them, this . . . this concern with beauty as a physical actuality in the world – and that’s clearly imprisoning and it infantilizes . . . but it’s true and . . . I don’t know how else to explain what –’
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On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 3
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‘She found a black fella, I spose. It was always going to happen, though. It’s in their nature.’
On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 10
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Kiki looked up. ‘Howard, I love you. But I’m just not interested in watching this second adolescence. I had my adolescence. I can’t go through yours again.’
On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 12
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‘Well, my God. What a tricky bastard. Moral majority my arse. Well, you’ve got him. My God! You should go in there and spit-roast him. Destroy him!’
Zora forced her fake nails, left over from the party, into the underside of the table top. ‘That’s your advice?”
On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 13
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Howard looked back at the woman on the wall, Rembrandt’s love, Hendrickje. Though her hands were imprecise blurs, paint heaped on paint and roiled with the brush, the rest of her skin had been expertly rendered in all its variety – chalky whites and lively pinks, the underlying blue of her veins and the ever present human hint of yellow, intimation of what is to come.
