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
Darius changes out of his uniform when he gets home and sits down for dinner. It’s not falafel, like Fatty Bolger might assume (falafel isn’t even Persian); it’s spaghetti and meat sauce. Mom only cooks Persian food on the weekends because it’s all so labor- and time-intensive, and she’s a UX designer who’s always overwhelmed. Dad is an architect and a partner at a firm that designs “centerpieces for urban living,” like museums. Mom, Dad, Darius, and his little sister Laleh all sit around the table and listen to Laleh regale them with a play-by-play of her class’s game of Heads Down, Thumbs Up. She’s in second grade with a very Persian name and is somehow more popular than Darius. Darius won’t say it aloud because it’s not manly, but he adores Laleh.
It’s a sign of how much Trent’s bullying gets to Darius that Darius feels the need to assure readers that his family isn’t eating falafel for dinner. But Darius also gets at the idea that Trent is ignorant when he bullies Darius, since falafel isn’t even Persian. His methods for bullying Darius, in other words, are rooted in his own ignorant beliefs and perhaps have little to do with Darius. As Darius describes Laleh, it shows too that Darius can’t help but compare himself to all his family members. And in his mind, his family members are all better, more functional, and more popular than he is.
Themes
When Laleh finishes her story, Darius reaches for more pasta—but Dad hands him the salad bowl instead. Dad is big on policing Darius’s “dietary indiscretions.” Then, after dinner, Darius and Dad wash dishes, and Darius waits for his electric kettle to reach 180 degrees so he can steep his genmaicha. The tea has toasted rice in it, and nobody but Darius drinks it. Darius really doesn’t want Mom to know it has rice in it, since Persians are very particular about their rice. Finally, Darius and Dad settle on the couch for their nightly ritual of watching one episode of Star Trek. They’ve seen all the episodes many times; now, they’re working through The Next Generation. Darius loves this ritual: for 47 minutes, Dad pretends to enjoy Darius’s company.
Again, Dad’s actions loudly proclaim how he thinks about his son, namely that Darius should lose weight and make supposedly better choices about what he eats. This, of course, ignores what Darius wants to put in his body, which no doubt contributes to his belief that Dad doesn’t really care about who Darius is. However, Darius then reveals that he and Dad do have some moments where they enjoy each other’s company: when they’re watching Star Trek. Still though, note that Darius insists Dad is just pretending to enjoy Darius’s company; he doesn’t believe Dad actually likes the ritual.
Themes
Moments into the episode, Mom’s computer beeps, signaling that she’s getting a video call. Dad and Darius smile at each other (they can do this without it being weird during a Star Trek episode) and Dad turns up the volume. Mom always yells on video calls. Darius listens to Mom greet her brother Jamsheed in Farsi. Darius doesn’t know much Farsi—only greetings, food words, tea words, and family relations. Mom never taught Darius, but she taught Laleh, and Laleh is mostly fluent. Now, Farsi seems like Mom and Laleh’s special thing, while Dad and Darius have Star Trek. Still, whenever Dad and Darius are the only non-Farsi speakers in a group, they just stand awkwardly.
While Darius leans into the Persian “tea-loving gene,” he realizes that he’s missing out on some aspects of Persian culture, such as the language. This, it’s worth noting, will make it harder for Darius to connect with any Farsi-speaking relatives. Additionally, Darius recognizes that he and Dad should get along better than they do, based solely on the fact that neither of them speak Farsi. The fact that they don’t, though, suggests that there’s more to their difficult relationship than surface-level stuff like this.
Themes
Laleh plops onto the couch and announces that Mom is talking to Dayi Jamsheed, who’s at Mamou and Babou’s house. Just then, Mom calls for Dad, Laleh, and Darius to come say hi. Darius and Dad shrug at each other and follow Laleh upstairs.
Since she speaks Farsi, Laleh no doubt has a better grasp of what’s going on in Mom’s conversation with Dayi Jamsheed than either Dad or Darius does. This highlights again that the language barrier cuts Darius off from his extended family.
Themes
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