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
When Darius gets up the next morning, Mamou, Mom, Laleh, and Dad are already in town. Babou is in his room with the door closed, so Darius helps himself to the breakfast foods on the table and then gets a glass and his meds. Just as he takes the pill, Babou enters the kitchen and asks Darius what he’s doing and if he’s sick. When Darius says he has depression, he can sense Babou’s disappointment—who knew that Babou and Dad would have this in common. Babou tells Darius the meds won’t help; he just has to think positive and try harder. Then he says he’s glad Darius met Sohrab, since he knew the two would be friends.
Again, Darius learns what Mom meant when she warned him about how differently Persian culture thinks about mental health. In a lot of the world, mental health issues of all sorts aren’t attributed to brain chemistry, so Darius taking pills to regulate his brain chemistry is a foreign idea to someone like Babou. Still, the thing that Darius takes away from this interaction is that Babou is disappointed in him, something that makes Darius feel distant from his family as well as inadequate.
Themes
Darius is relieved when Sohrab knocks on the door. Darius explains he doesn’t have a “kit” (soccer gear). Sohrab says he has extra for Darius to borrow. They say goodbye to Babou, and Sohrab leads Darius to a park down the street and into the public bathroom, which just has stalls with sitting toilets. Darius wonders if he’s not supposed to pee standing up here, but he can’t ask Sohrab. Sohrab tosses Darius a T-shirt and shorts and then asks what shoe size Darius wears. But Iranian sizing is different, so Sohrab grabs Darius around the waist so they can compare their feet. Darius’s are a bit longer and much wider. He accepts a pair of faded black Adidas. For himself, Sohrab pulls out a pair of faded white cleats that look like they’re about to fall apart. Darius tries to taarof but finally agrees to use the black ones.
Getting ready to play is simultaneously a heartwarming experience, and an anxious one. Darius is learning to navigate a culture that he knows a bit about, but he’s missing details—such as how shoe sizing works or how one is supposed to use a toilet here. Sohrab, though, makes Darius feel like it’s okay to not know things, since Sohrab is here to guide him through it. Sohrab doesn’t make Darius feel bad for not knowing things and not being prepared. Indeed, he seems happy to share, particularly when he won’t let Darius taarof and insists on letting Darius use his better cleats. This is how he makes Darius feel welcome.
Themes
Darius struggles into the slightly too-small clothes in a stall and pulls on the cleats. He feels very Iranian and ready to play, but Sohrab looks way more athletic in his kit. It makes Darius feel inadequate, but Sohrab’s smile makes him feel okay about playing. They join two other boys on the field, Ali-Reza and Hossein. After introductions, Darius thanks the boys for letting him play with them. Ali-Reza elbows Hossein and mutters something in Farsi that makes Sohrab blush, but before Darius can ask what the deal is, Sohrab tells Darius to follow him.
Again, Darius isn’t entirely comfortable with this experience. The clothes are too small, he’s nervous anyway, and Sohrab’s slight build means that he has an easier time looking athletic. Ali-Reza and Hossein also seem to have a problem with either Darius or Sohrab, but in all of these cases, Sohrab tries to put Darius at ease and show him that things are going to be okay. Darius is, in this sense, learning to trust a friend for the first time.
Themes
Darius hasn’t been on a soccer team since he was 12. Dad had signed Darius up when Darius was seven, and the coach always said Darius was okay but not aggressive enough. But when Darius was diagnosed with depression and started medication, he couldn’t focus and started leaving practice in tears because the coach thought he just wasn’t trying hard enough. Mom finally let Darius quit, which Dad of course found very disappointing. Dad is used to Darius being a disappointment by now.
This anecdote reminds readers of one of the most difficult aspects of mental health problems: being misunderstood. Darius makes it clear that he was trying his hardest, but the medications made it impossible to perform at the level he once could. And note that Darius or his parents didn’t tell the coach what was going on, perhaps out of shame or a desire to keep Darius’s medical information private. Either way, Darius was made to feel alone and inadequate, and this further damaged his relationship with Dad as well as his belief in his own abilities.
Themes
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Sohrab is an extremely aggressive player, and Darius finds he remembers a lot of his early soccer training. He also realizes that Sohrab and Ali-Reza aren’t friends, like he initially thought: they battle like they’re trying to settle a score, and Darius’s presence on Sohrab’s team seems to be tipping the balance. At one point, Darius saves Ali-Reza’s attempted goal with a sliding tackle, and Ali-Reza spits, “Pedar sag” at Sohrab. The two start shoving each other until Hossein shouts at them to stop. The game continues until finally, Sohrab announces that he and Darius won by three goals. It’s a bit weird, but Darius puts his arm around Sohrab’s sweaty neck when Sohrab throws an arm over Darius’s shoulders.
Darius finds that the language barrier and cultural illiteracy doesn’t keep him from realizing that Ali-Reza and Sohrab clearly have issues with each other. Indeed, it seems even like Ali-Reza is bullying Sohrab, since he articulates “Pedar sag” like an insult. Battling a boy who seems like a bully with Sohrab helps Darius feel closer to his new friend, if only because it’s nice, for once, to come out on top in any fight with a bully. On the soccer field, Darius is realizing, he can perform and stand up for himself and those he cares about.
Themes
Hossein and Ali-Reza walk ahead in silence, clearly annoyed by their defeat. Darius asks if Sohrab plays with them a lot, and Sohrab says they just don’t like to lose. Shrugging, Sohrab continues that Ali-Reza is very prejudiced against Bahá’ís, which Darius finds surprising. At home, Persians of all religions band together, and religion doesn’t matter. But here, Sohrab is a target because of his religion. When Darius asks, Sohrab says “pedar sag” is a horrible insult meaning “your father is a dog.” But he insists it doesn’t bother him much. Darius says he thinks Ali-Reza is mad that Sohrab is a better player, and Sohrab says that Darius is also better than Ali-Reza.
Here, Darius learns that American Persian culture and Persian culture here, in Yazd, are very different. It’s worth noting that most Persian immigrants in the U.S. are religious minorities, such as Bahá’ís. And this is partly due to the fact that Iran, as an Islamic theocracy, doesn’t provide as much religious freedom or protections for any Iranians who aren’t Muslim—and the government routinely targets Bahá’ís. This explains Ali-Reza’s bigotry and cruelty toward Sohrab.
Themes
