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Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 2
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
The Belsey family’s New England home was built in 1856. Photos hung along the staircase show several generations of the family, starting with Kiki’s great-great-grandmother, who was a slave, and going on to her grandmother, a nurse who received a large inheritance from a white doctor in Florida that raised the Simmonds family to the middle class. Kiki herself went on to become a successful hospital administrator.
The photos on the wall illustrate the slow progress of civil rights in the United States in general. Perhaps the reason why Kiki felt uncomfortable around Monique earlier is that Kiki knows her middle-class position is partly the result to luck—because her grandmother managed to win the favor of a white doctor.
Themes
Howard never much liked his own family, the Belseys, and so there are few pictures of them in the house. One day, as he’s walking past the pictures of his and Kiki’s families, he decides to call Dr. Erskine Jegede, a professor of African literature who is one of Howard’s colleagues at Wellington. Erskine is short and bald, and he always wears a suit. Erskine and Howard often get lunch together before disappearing off to the carrels in the library where they work.
Howard’s strained relationship with his own family hints at why he struggles to relate to Kiki and his children. As this passage shows, Howard seems to be more comfortable around colleagues than he is with his wife and children. This may be in part because colleagues like Erskine ask little of Howard—after their conversations, each of the men returns to his solitary work in the library.
Themes
As Howard tells Erskine on the phone about his concern over Jerome’s marriage to Victoria, Erskine is sympathetic. Erskine remembers how during the Brixton riots of 1981, Erskine and Monty were both on a BBC panel, with Erskine trying to explain poverty in Brixton while Monty kept talking about how “the coloured man” had to show respect for his home. Erskine also insults a book Monty wrote about Rembrandt. Although Howard also disagrees with Monty’s book, he secretly thinks it’s well written. Howard has his own unfinished Rembrandt book.
This story is set in approximately the present day (it was published in 2005), and so Erskine has been holding on to his grudge against Monty for quite some time. The phrase “the coloured man” would have been out of date in England even in the 1980s. Monty’s use of the phrase thus indicates that he is behind the times. The Brixton riot was a response to law enforcement’s use of racially motivated policies like stop-and-search (often called “stop-and-frisk” in the U.S.), and so Monty’s words during the panel suggest that he supports law enforcement over the civil rights protesters.
Themes
As Howard is leaving, he runs into Levi. He asks Levi why he always wears a skullcap and if it has any political meaning, but Levi says it’s just to keep his head warm. Although Levi doesn’t talk much, eventually Howard gets Levi to admit that he agrees with Kiki: Jerome is just trying to get attention and won’t actually marry Victoria, so it’s probably best not to make a big deal about the announcement.
This brief conversation between Levi and Howard reveals several things about their relationship. While Howard assumes that Levi’s skullcap must have political significance, perhaps suggesting a desire to align himself with urban Black culture, for Levi it’s just an unconscious and practical decision. This exchange shows how, while identity is a choice, it is not always an intellectual one that involves long contemplation.
Themes
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Levi thinks it could be a good thing if Jerome gets married, since it’s probably the only way he’ll ever have a chance of having sex. Howard explains that the real problem isn’t Victoria but Monty. Eventually, Howard leaves and heads to the airport.
Levi’s bluntness he shares with his mother, perhaps reflecting the fact that they’re the only two family members born in America. By contrast, Howard’s objection to Victoria on the grounds that he disapproves of Monty reveals his Britishness, since inheritance and heredity have traditionally played an important role in the British class system while the American class system traditionally puts more value on self-made success.
Themes
While Howard is gone, Kiki goes into his study. She notices that his computer is on and that there’s a new email from Jerome. In an email dated November 21, Jerome says his previous message about marrying Victoria was a complete mistake and that he’s made a fool of himself. Kiki realizes she has no way to contact Howard, who is already at the airport and doesn’t own a cellphone because he’s afraid of carcinogens.
Howard’s refusal to adapt to the modern world, like owning a cellphone or checking his email regularly, leads to negative consequences in this scene. This passage illustrates how, as much as Howard is an intellectual who values intelligence and critical thinking, sometime his abstract ideals don’t translate to practical behavior in his everyday life.
Themes
