The last two pages on beauty

The last two pages give an interesting take on beauty. After Howard has blown almost every chance of restoring his family, and marriage and career, he has nothing to say about his theories and actually contradicts them. In the end, Howard, a man for whom words dictate his entire life and his inability to really communicate with anyone, is utterly speechless and is forced to at last realize the truth about what is art and what is beauty. He is forced in his tenure speech to talk about the actual painting, to talk about actual beauty, to say - as Victoria so mockingly suggested - 'I like the tomato.' This is especially true when he only sees Kiki in the audience. He recognizes the beauty in her and that he has lost her. This is the first time I think we get a straight-forward definition of beauty - it is the mind's recognition of the loss of something needed or desired. Howard cannot see the true beauty in Kiki and the beauty she brought to his life until she is lost. For the first time, Howard and the audience are able to recognize something with beauty and love for what it really is.

The painting, he finally admits, says something and it says "I love this woman." This is what he finally tries to say to Kiki - ironically when it is so far too late. He finally explains that paintings and art can speak to us and say things, however he does not really recognize this until the very end. In some ways, Howard brought this all on himself, intentionally or unintentionally destroying his own life. It may be possible that Howard felt guilty or troubled by the fact that he may have been better off than his parents. Perhaps, he felt that because his father was such a disappointment to him, he could not ever fully succeed - as shown with his procrastination with his novel, his deliberate intimidation in his classes, his avoidance of his father for years and thus his distance with his own family.