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
The Fugees have a variety of soccer idols, but Qendrim Bushi’s is his grandfather, a famous goalkeeper in Kosovo. Qendrim is a tiny but talented midfielder for the Under Thirteens. His family came from an Albanian town in the mountains of southern Kosovo, where his father Xhalal owned two small grocery stores.
Like the stories of Jeremiah Ziaty and Bien Ntwari, Qendrim’s story serves as another example of how ethnic conflicts and violent uprisings have displaced so many of the Fugees, introducing them to adversity at a very young age.
Themes
Ethnic violence tore Qendrim’s homeland apart: his town became a battleground in the 1990s between the Serbian dominated Yugoslav army (which was trying to assert Serbian control over the Albanian-inhabited region) and the Kosovo Liberation Army. Civilians were hurt by both sides in the conflict, as KLA soldiers sometimes put pressure on civilians to flee for refugee camps in order to provoke international sympathy and aid.
Once again, contrasts can be made between these kinds of wars—which are borne of ethnic conflicts and are based on harmful divisions between groups of people—and what Luma is trying to attempt with the Fugees. She is making sure that they are a unified team and not emulating this hatred towards each other.
Themes
NATO bombing, ordered by then-President Bill Clinton, provoked a violent response from the Yugoslav army, and they ransacked towns across Kosovo. Xhalal fled with his wife and children before the fighting, walking for two days to a Macedonian refugee camp. The Bushis were grateful to learn that they had been granted asylum in the U.S. Qendrim was five at the time.
St. John again emphasizes the immense strength and resilience it takes to leave one’s entire life behind and walk for days into a different country in order to seek asylum and hope for a new life.
Themes
Gradually Qendrim makes friends at elementary school, particularly with Albanian and Bosnian kids. Xhalal gets involved with the Community Center and signs Qendrim up for the Fugees program. Qendrim quickly becomes close with Eldin, who is Bosnian, and steadily grows close to his other teammates as well. Having friends from all over the world seems normal to Qendrim: “it’s like they’re all from [his] own country.”
Like many other players, at first Qendrim gravitates towards other kids who come from the same region that he does. But eventually, and thanks to Luma’s efforts, the divisions between players based on geography or language erode, and they become a more unified and familial team.
Themes
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While the Under Fifteens struggle to keep their team together, The Under Thirteens start to gel more and more. Once, while running laps, the boys begin to chant together, “Who are the kings?” “The Fugees!” “Who is the queen?” “Luma!” Luma shakes her head in confusion, and the boys tumble to the ground, laughing. St. John writes that this shows that boys from an array of countries, ethnicities, and languages could create their own inside jokes. Even Mohammed Mohammed, a boy who speaks almost no English, is nearly crying with laughter.
St. John makes his argument more explicit, in directly explaining the significance of the inside jokes that the boys create. Even boys from widely different backgrounds find a community among them, and this is what the Fugees facilitates. Particularly for boys who are having trouble finding friends otherwise, the team gives them a sense of belonging.
Themes
Luma is also getting to know her team better. Bien is like “a secret weapon” she can keep hidden on defense for the first half, Jeremiah can kick with his left and right foot equally well, and Qendrim is a good midfielder and great at directing his teammates. Eldin and Mafoday are still weak on goal, but they had been with the team since the beginning. They are punctual and do their homework, and so Luma resolves to coach around their weaknesses.
Once again, Luma demonstrates that she prioritizes not only success on the soccer field, but the dedication and discipline that it takes to be on the team in other areas—which is why she wants to keep Eldin and Mafoday on the team, despite the fact that they are the weak links.
Themes
