Both Darius and Dad struggle with diagnosed depression. Throughout the novel—depending on context—depression is framed as something that is either neutral and nothing to be ashamed of—or a huge source of shame and isolation. For instance, on the plane to Iran, Mom warns Darius that Iranian culture doesn’t see depression the same way that American culture does. Upon learning that Darius takes medication for depression, various Iranian friends and family members insist that Darius needs to try harder, eat better, and simply think happier thoughts. This is profoundly alienating for Darius, and it makes him feel like he’ll never measure up to his relatives’ high standards. Similarly, though Dad encourages Darius to see his depression as just a thing he has to manage (and Darius’s medication simply as something Darius requires to live a good, fulfilling life) Darius believes that his depression is something that Dad is ashamed of. Darius’s perception contributes to his fraught relationship with Dad, as it seems to Darius that Dad, who has been successfully managing his depression for decades, has forgotten how hard it can be for Darius, who is young and still figuring out how to manage his mental illness.
However, when Dad and Darius finally speak honestly with each other at the novel’s climax, Darius discovers that medication hasn’t always made Dad the high-functioning, emotionally stable, ideal man that Darius sees him as. Rather, Dad shares that when Darius was little, his medication stopped working; in order to keep him from hurting himself, Dad’s doctors temporarily put on heavy tranquilizers. This is revelatory for Darius—for once, Dad seems like a relatable person with flaws and struggles of his own. But this conversation also reminds Darius and readers alike that managing depression isn’t always easy and straightforward, even if it seems that way from the outside. Depression is, as Dad maintains, nothing to be ashamed of—but that doesn’t mean it’s not also sometimes painful and frightening. Dad and Darius also find, though, that speaking openly and honestly with each other about Dad’s struggles helps them connect and develop empathy for each other. Darius the Great is Not Okay thus suggests that, in certain contexts and with trusted people, opening up about one’s mental illness can be a source of connection and support.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Mental Health, Depression, and Connection ThemeTracker
Mental Health, Depression, and Connection Quotes in Darius the Great Is Not Okay
I took my pills and gulped down the whole glass of water. Dad stood next to me, watching, like he was worried I was going to choke. He had this look on his face, the same disappointed look he had when I told him about how Fatty Bolger had replaced my bicycle’s seat with blue truck nuts.
He was ashamed of me.
He was ashamed of us.
Übermensches aren’t supposed to need medication.
Dad never really talked about his own diagnosis for depression. It was lost to the histories of a prior age of this world. All he ever said was that it happened when he was in college, and that his medication had kept him healthy for years, and that I shouldn’t worry about it. It wasn’t a big deal.
By the time I was diagnosed, and Dr. Howell was trying to find some combination of medications to treat me properly, Stephen Kellner had been managing his depression so long that he couldn’t remember what it was like. Or maybe he’d never had Mood Slingshot Maneuvers in the first place. Maybe his medication had recalibrated his brain right away, and he was back to being a high-functioning Übermensch in no time.
“You can’t keep trying to control him,” Mom said. “You have to let him make his own decisions.”
“You know how he gets treated,” Dad said. “You really want that for him?”
“No. But how is making him ashamed of everything going to fix it?”
“I don’t want him to be ashamed,” Dad said. “But he’s got enough going on with his depression, he doesn’t need to be bullied all the time too. He wouldn’t be such a target if he fit in more. If he could just, you know, act a little more normal.”
Nearly every car parked on the street (or occasionally up on the curb) was light-colored and angular, makes and models I had never seen before.
I wondered where Iranian cars came from.
I wondered what Stephen Kellner thought of Iranian cars, and how they compared to his Audi.
I wondered if he was still asleep. If he’d wake up and we’d be able to get along, the way he wanted.
I could sense the disappointment radiating off him.
I never expected Ardeshir Bahrami to have so much in common with his son-in-law.
“What are you depressed for?” he shook the pill bottle. “You have to think positive, baba. Medicine is for old people. Like me.”
“It’s just the way I am,” I squeaked.
I would never be good enough for Ardeshir Bahrami.
“You just have to try harder, Darioush-jan. Those will not fix anything.” He glanced at the table. “Did you have enough to eat?”
Mamou popped the lid and unsealed the tea. “It looks good, maman. Thank you. You are so sweet. Just like your dad.” She pulled me close and kissed me on both cheeks.
If I had been drinking tea at that moment, I would have imitated Javaneh Esfahani and shot it out of my nose.
No one had ever called Stephen Kellner sweet.
Not ever.
I mean, it was inevitable that Laleh would acquire a taste for Star Trek—eventually. She was my sister, after all. And Stephen Kellner’s daughter. It was in her genetic makeup.
But I thought I would get to keep that bit of Dad to myself for a little while longer.
It was the only time I ever got to be his son.
“Mamou thought it was too much driving to come here. To see this. But it’s important for you to know where you come from.”
I didn’t understand Ardeshir Bahrami.
Yesterday I wasn’t Persian enough because I didn’t speak Farsi, because I took medicine for depression, because I brought him and Mamou fancy tea.
He made me feel small and stupid.
Now he was determined to show me my heritage.
Maybe Ardeshir Bahrami experienced Mood Slingshot Maneuvers too.
My grandfather seemed so small and defeated then, bowed under the weight of history and the burdens of the future.
I didn’t know what to say.
The singularity in my stomach was back, pulsing and writhing in sympathetic harmony with the one I knew lived deep inside Babou.
In that moment I understood my grandfather perfectly.
Ardeshir Bahrami was as sad as I was.
“It made me into a zombie. That’s why I couldn’t tell you stories. I could barely tell the time of day.”
I didn’t know.
“I lost myself for a long time, Darius. I didn’t like who I became on those pills, but they saved my life. They kept me here. For you. And your mom. And by the time I was doing better and Dr. Howell tapered me off, your sister was born and I just...things were different. She was a baby, and she needed me. And I didn’t know if you even wanted stories anymore. If you were ever going to forgive me.”
“Dad...”
“Suicide isn’t the only way you can lose someone to depression.”
[...]
“And it kills me that I gave it to you, Darius. It kills me.”
There were tears in his eyes.
Actual human tears.
I had never seen my father cry before.
Dad had never hidden his depression from me. Not really.
But I never knew how close I had come to losing him.
How hard he fought to stay with us, even if it made him into a Borg drone.
I didn’t want to lose him.
And he didn’t want to lose me.
He just didn’t know how to say it out loud.
I think I understood my father better than I ever had before.
I thought about Coach Henderson.
I thought about lack of discipline.
“I guess I didn’t think I was that good.”
“Well, you’ve got some skill. Why don’t you try out in the fall?”
My ears burned. I almost told Coach no.
Almost.
But that’s what Darius would have done.
Darioush would have tried out.
I thought about telling Sohrab that I had made the team. And sending him photos of me in my kit. And him squinting and congratulating me.
