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
On October 21, the Under Thirteens pile into the YMCA bus and set out for Athens. Luma follows in her car, but about an hour into the drive, a police car pulls up behind her. She remembers her broken tail light and pulls over while the bus continues on. The policeman informs Luma that her license had been suspended and orders her out of the car. She doesn’t understand why her license has been suspended, and under Georgia law, the policeman has to arrest her.
Although St. John never explains why (or if) Luma’s license had in fact been suspended, this situation (and much of Luma’s visit to jail) reeks of the same kind of police discrimination and harsh punishments that plague much of Clarkston’s refugee community in the early chapters.
Themes
By this point, Tracy had turned the bus around. Luma convinces the policeman to let her give the team’s player cards to the bus driver so they could play the game without her. She tells the Fugees, shakily, that she wouldn’t make it to the game, but she expects them to win. The Fugees are uneasy—many of them had seen or heard of family members being carted off for minimal offenses. Some of the boys begin to cry.
Even though Luma is shaken by her arrest, she still tries to remain a leader for her players. St. John also reminds readers that this experience, while unusual for American kids, is all too familiar for many of the refugee boys who are on the Fugees.
Themes
The Fugees arrive at the game, while Luma arrives at the Walton County Jail. When the clerk notes Luma’s foreign name, she asks, “What are you doing here?” meaning the United States. Luma doesn’t respond. Luma is then fingerprinted, and her possessions are taken from her. Bail is set at $759.50, and Luma is escorted into a holding cell. She begins to feel afraid.
Luma’s experience going to jail continues to be plagued by racism and discrimination. She is treated as though she doesn’t belong in America simply because her name sounds like it is that of an immigrant.
Themes
The Fugees look good during warm ups, but then the game begins. Tracy tries to encourage them, but she’s not a soccer coach. The other team, the Valiants, score two goals in five minutes. The Fugees are lost. The Valiants score again and again and again. After the first half, the score is 5-0.
St. John emphasizes that even though the Under Thirteens are talented and dedicated, they still need Luma in order to play. Without her leadership, they are literally “lost” and seem unable to score.
Themes
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At halftime, the Fugees fight over who should play what position; they replace Eldin in goal with Mafoday. When they retake the field, however, they have no intention of giving up—they go after the ball, and Mafoday is able to make a good save early in the half. Midway through the second half, the Valiants get a penalty kick. Mafoday makes another amazing save, and the Fugees erupt in cheers. At the end of the game, the score is still 5-0. They held their own in the second half.
Even though the Fugees are lost without Luma, when they regroup at halftime they recognize that they can’t give up—particularly because they know that this would be the biggest disappointment to Luma. Thus, they each put in their best efforts to make sure that the Valiants can’t score any more.
Themes
After the game, Tracy returns to the Walton County Jail and pays Luma’s bail. When she gets on the team bus, the boys tell her they lost 5-0. She tells them that the loss was her fault, and she had no excuse not to be at the game. But the boys tell her the exciting part: Mafoday stopped a penalty kick, and if she had been there, they would definitely have beaten the team.
In evaluating her own failures, Luma shows that she is just as hard on herself as she is on the players. She knows that she made a mistake in not being able to be there for the team. But the boys only care that they put in their best effort.
Themes
Back in Clarkston, Luma gets a call from Grace Balegamire’s little brother, who is unhappy at home while his mother is visiting a friend and says he’s “scared to be alone.” She drives to the grocery store, picks up sweet rolls, then visits the boy’s apartment. He tells her that he had a bad day. Luma tells him about her own bad day, but he doesn’t buy it.
This is another example of Luma’s leadership off the field, as she donates her time and energy to care for her players and their families—even when she is the one who truly needs some support after a very bad day. But it is also clear from her interactions with this boy that she gets some comfort in being around the Fugees, and that their relationships are mutually beneficial.
Themes
The boy wonders how Luma can be at his house if she had been in jail. She says that Tracy paid enough for “five hundred ice creams” to get Luma out. The boy is confused by this system and wonders aloud if anyone can get out of jail if they pay five hundred ice creams. Luma realizes why he is asking: his father is still in prison in Kinshasa, and the government has not issued word on when he might be released.
Throughout the book, St. John includes these small details—though it is often easy to forget some of the details of these kids’ backgrounds—to reminds readers of their unique challenges and the intense ordeals they still face, even in America.
Themes
