Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Darius the Great Is Not Okay, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Friendship
Family
Persian Identity and Culture
Mental Health, Depression, and Connection
Bullying
Summary
Analysis
Mamou is on the screen, speaking to Laleh in Farsi about school. Dad and Darius kneel on the floor around Mom and Laleh, who are both in the office chair. Even though Darius loves seeing his grandmother, he never knows how to talk to her. He can’t let his feelings out; he doesn’t know how. So, he tells Mamou that school and work are fine. As Dayi Jamsheed appears on the screen and as Mamou says that Jamsheed took Babou to the doctor today, Darius waves and follows Dad out of the office. Darius is a bit confused. He always wants to talk to Mamou, but it feels like she’s a universe away and in a different reality. And it seems like Laleh belongs in that reality, while Dad and Darius don’t.
Here, Darius delves a bit more into how not speaking Farsi separates him from Mamou: it seems to him like she, Mom, and Laleh are simply part of a different world. So, though Darius is Persian, he sees himself as less Persian than Mom and Laleh; he sees himself as being more like Dad. However, Darius has already made it clear that he and Dad struggle to connect, which suggests that Darius feels pretty alone in his family for various reasons. It’s also interesting that he notes that he doesn’t know how to let his feelings out—communicating in general, this suggests, is difficult for Darius.
Themes
Once Dad and Darius finish the end credits of Star Trek, Dad goes back upstairs to check on Mom. Laleh lurks by the Haft-Seen, admiring the goldfish. The Haft-Seen is an altar that Persian families set up in anticipation of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, which is the first day of spring. In Darius’s family, Dad’s the one who insists on putting it up before anyone else, early in March. It traditionally has things on it that start with s in Farsi, like vinegar and apples. The fish have something to do with the zodiac, but Mom agrees to the fish mostly because Laleh likes them. Laleh also insists on putting a photo of Dad on the Haft-Seen, since Dad’s name is Stephen. Sometimes, Darius wonders if Dad likes Nowruz more than anyone else in the family because it lets him feel a bit Persian.
Darius doesn’t take his thought exercise all the way, but he essentially wonders here if everyone else in his family also wants to be a little bit more Persian—even Dad, who is in no way Persian except through his marriage to Mom. Still, the fact that Dad can set up the Haft-Seen so early and feel like he’s participating in a Persian cultural tradition highlights how traditions like these allow people inroads to a culture, even if it’s just their adoptive culture. This moment also suggests that Dad and Darius might have more to connect over, if they could figure out how to communicate with each other.
Themes
Laleh directs Darius’s attention to the goldfish: one only has one eyeball. She declares she’s naming it Ahab after Captain Ahab from “Moby the Whale” (Darius doesn’t correct her; he won’t say “dick” in front of his sister). The rest of the fish, she insists, are Simon, Garfunkel, and Bob. Darius kisses Laleh and she squirms. She’s not good yet at pretending she doesn’t like affection from Darius.
The book Darius and Laleh reference is Moby-Dick. Refusing to say “dick” in front of Laleh is Darius’s way of protecting her—recall that much of Trent’s bullying has to do with genitalia, so Darius may be particularly averse to using penis euphemisms to avoid feeling at all like Trent.
Themes
Then, Darius heads for the kitchen, washes his teacup, and gets out water and his pills. Dad appears in the doorway and asks Darius to grab his pills, too. He slides the pocket door closed, and Darius privately remembers how he and Dad used to pretend the door was a Turbolift Door from Star Trek. When Darius smashed his fingers in it once, they stopped playing that game. As Darius shakes out his and Dad’s pills, he explains to readers that he and Dad both take medication for depression. They both see the same doctor, which is a bit weird, but Darius tries not to think about it. Dad watches Darius swallow his pills; he’s clearly disappointed with Darius and himself—after all, Übermensches aren’t supposed to need medication.
Here, readers learn about one more thing that Darius and Dad have in common: diagnosed depression, which they take medication to manage. But while Darius doesn’t say much about his own thoughts about his diagnosis, note that he’s pretty convinced Dad is ashamed of himself and of Darius. It’s not entirely clear where Darius gets this, as Dad doesn’t seem to be trying to hide his depression from Darius or make Darius feel bad for having depression and taking medication. So, this may reflect Darius’s beliefs about mental illness rather than Dad’s.
Themes
Get the entire Darius the Great Is Not Okay LitChart as a printable PDF.
Then, awkwardly, Dad says that Babou went to the doctor today. Darius has never met Babou; Babou barely speaks to him on video chat. Darius already knows that Babou has a brain tumor, but Dad says things aren’t looking good—Babou won’t get better. So, the family is going to visit Iran.
Darius may also struggle to connect to his extended family because he’s never met them in person, and in general that can make things difficult. Still, Dad steps in here and lets Darius know that they have no choice but to show Babou they care (and Mom as well) by going to visit.
Themes
