Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Outcasts United, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Refugees, Discrimination, and Resilience
Community and Teamwork vs. Division
Leadership and Respect
Discipline, Dedication, and Success
Summary
Analysis
Luma’s decision to cancel the Under Fifteens season is hard on her players, and especially on Kanue. Kanue was born in Liberia and fled the war when he was just two years old. At some point he was separated from his parents and was taken in by his uncle, Barlea. In 2004, they were accepted for resettlement in Clarkston.
St. John returns to the stories of players to continue to emphasize the resilience of those boys, and also to underscore how much some of them (like Kanue) need the Fugees.
Themes
Barlea works two jobs in back-to-back shifts at the Atlanta airport, leaving the apartment at 7 p.m. each evening and returning at 3 p.m. the next day, collapsing for a few hours before returning to work. Kanue’s role is to cook for himself and his uncle and keep the apartment, a routine he had had since he was thirteen. He is not allowed to play soccer, do homework, or leave until he cooks dinner, but he never complains.
Even after arriving in America, Kanue and Barlea still have to face a lot of challenges and the intrinsic struggles of being refugees in a new country. Barlea works incredibly hard to make money for himself and Kanue. Kanue also has to work hard to keep up the household, because he is the only one who can do it, even though he is only fifteen.
Themes
After arriving in America, Kanue soon found out about the Fugees and joined their summer practices, working hard to improve and eventually make the team as a goalie. Though he was eager to play more, he happily accepted the position and only gave up three goals in his first season. Once, when the Fugees were down three players, Luma moved Kanue to striker and discovered that he was a good offensive weapon. The Fugees won the game 4-2.
Kanue represents exactly the kind of player that Luma looks for: someone who will be dedicated and who will be a team player no matter what (indicated by his taking a position that he might not necessarily have chosen for himself). He doesn’t complain, instead simply working hard and leaping at the chance to show what he can do when Luma lets him.
Themes
Over his two years with the team, Kanue became devoted to the Fugees and Luma, helping with the younger team and working harder than anyone else in practices. With no siblings in the U.S. and a guardian who is never home, Kanue views the team as his family, and so Luma’s decision to cancel the season hits him hard. He thinks he’ll have to “start all over.”
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The Saturday after Luma cancels the season, she takes Kanue, Mandela, and another player named Natnael to the movies. On the way back, Kanue asks her to reconsider her decision about canceling the team. He argues that it isn’t fair to the good kids who follow her rules. He vows to round up a new roster of players who will work hard.
Kanue is so motivated by the Fugees that he promises to find others who will work as hard as he will, and who will follow Luma’s rules. This illustrates exactly the kind of dedication that Luma wants to see in her players.
Themes
Luma has doubts: while they hold tryouts, they would forfeit two games, and they would have a hard time competing against teams that had been playing together for years, making them even more frustrated. But at the same time, players like Mandela and Fornatee might get into trouble without the Fugees to keep them busy. She agrees to let them try to round up a new set of players.
Again, even though Luma is frustrated by her players, she also recognizes the importance of the Fugees to the boys. For players like Mandela and Fornatee, soccer not only gives them an active outlet, but it also diverts them from more dangerous activities and improves their lives in other ways (like giving them a community and improving their education through the tutoring sessions).
Themes
In the meantime, Luma still has two other teams to coach. The Thirteens’ first two games did not go well: they tied one game and gave up the lead in another to lose 3-1. They aren’t passing well, and they aren’t talking to each other. She tells them that she cancelled the Fifteens team and doesn’t want to have to do the same for them. This prompts them to get serious: they show up on time, run hard, and focus.
Luma uses the Fifteens as a negative example, pushing and inspiring the Thirteens to prove that they have the dedication and the discipline that the older boys don’t have. Just like Kanue, they understand the value of the team and want to preserve it.
Themes
The Thirteens’ third game is against a mostly white team called the Triumph from a nearby town. The Fugees quickly gain a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Jeremiah and Qendrim, but Luma isn’t satisfied by halftime. She tells her players that they’re starting to get lazy and play like the other team.
It is notable that even when the boys are winning, Luma doesn’t let up on them—demanding that they play good soccer regardless of how many goals they’ve scored.
Themes
In the second half, they put on a show. Josiah scores, and after Luma moves Bien from defense to offense, he makes an amazing bicycle kick. Jeremiah scores again, and Bien lobs a ball that allows Qendrim to execute a perfect header into the goal. At the end of the game, the Fugees have won 5-1. Luma tells them they played a good game—but next week she expects them to play even better.
Again, part of Luma’s strategy is to make sure that she is always pushing her players to do better and better. Resting on their laurels, to Luma, is the same as being lazy, and she continues to demand rigor from them.
Themes
