Anita de Monte Laughs Last

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Visual Art

Most of the characters in this novel, even those who are peripheral to the narrative, are active in New York City’s art world in some way. Anita, Jack, and Nick are all artists, while Nick’s family is influential in the behind-the-scenes sphere of boards and donors. Raquel and many of her friends study art history, and Raquel’s mother works at the Met. Art is therefore a major focal point within the novel. Thus, the artworks described in Anita de Monte Laughs Last become more than descriptive imagery, for they represent the novel’s key themes in important ways. Both Jack’s work and Nick’s early pieces represent their identities as privileged, white male artists and therefore highlight The Damaging Impact of Toxic Masculinity. For example, Jack’s work reflects an angular style, and he makes use of heavy materials that are meant to project a solid, stalwart sense of the masculine. Although he achieves stardom in his lifetime, his best received works are the ones that Anita’s spirit deliberately alters; she softens them, adding feminine shapes and touches, and in so doing, adds the depth and meaning that his other works lacked. Jack’s art thus represents the arrogance and hubris of toxic masculinity, while Anita’s art, by contrast, is vivacious and organic. She does something entirely new with form and material. Her work also highlights the perils of Eurocentrism in the Art World because although her artistic style is brilliant, it is often overlooked because she is a woman of color from what was then labeled as “the third world.”

Hip Hop

Hip Hop is another of the novel’s key motifs, emphasizing the politics of race and belonging. Raquel is drawn to Hip Hop because she sees it as a sociopolitical reflection of the times in which it is created. Whereas the white students on campus, including her boyfriend, see the music as fringe, Raquel sees it as beautiful, complex, and masterfully written and performed. She and Marcus co-host a radio show that focuses on Hip Hop, and so for her, the genre also represents belonging. It is a shared passion amongst her friends of color, and as the novel progresses, she realizes how deeply she is rooted in various communities of color. Although Raquel had been struggling to fit into the white, affluent world of Brown, she gradually comes to see that there is nothing inherently wrong with her identity, her background, or her cultural interests. Although her relationship with Nick causes her to shirk her duties at the radio station, she returns there after her breakup. She is happy to be accepted by Marcus and Betsaida, and she realizes that her friends of color understand and appreciate her in a way that her white peers do not. Raquel’s interest in Hip Hop thus illustrates her particular set of cultural identifiers and the way that she shares her cultural interests with close friends and family members. Additionally, her in-depth analysis of the social and political stakes of Hip Hop as an art form foreshadows her keen insight into the politics of visual art, and Raquel emerges at the end of the novel as an important critical voice.

The “Third World” Versus the “First World”

“Third World vs First World” is an oft-repeated phrase in this novel. Although this terminology is problematic and dated and has since been replaced with terms like the Global South and the Global North, it does reflect the language that would have been used during the period of time depicted in the narrative. The author sets up the dichotomy between the “first world” and “third world” in order to better explore issues related to gender, class, and race. Because Anita is Cuban and a woman of color, she is seen in New York City as an embodiment of the so-called “third world.” People see her through the lens of their own stereotypes about Latinx women and assume that she grew up “impoverished,” overlooking her art because it does not perfectly reflect the styles and conventions of what was still a majority-white field. Although Raquel is American-born, she is also Latinx and did not grow up wealthy. In her own majority-white space (Brown), she is also seen through the lens of stereotype and associated with what her classmates think of as a “third world” identity. Raquel initially adopts this viewpoint herself and notes that the campus dance that she attends with her white, wealthy boyfriend and his donor parents is quintessentially “first world.” This arbitrary dichotomy therefore highlights the novel’s examination of Eurocentrism in the Art World. Repeated mentions of these disparate spaces highlight how the more affluent and privileged characters perceive the so-called “third world,” and Gonzalez uses this tension to expose the inherent racism and classism in the art world. Art that reflects a “first world” sensibility is praised above that which suggests that the artist came from the “third world.” Figures like Jack and Nick move with ease through the former and have no difficulties finding buyers for their work, while Anita struggles as a result of her identity and Raquel finds herself rejected by the wealthy white students who dominate the art scene at Brown.