77 pages • 2 hours read
Darius the Great Is Not Okay
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Chapters 36-39Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 36 Summary: “Through a Wormhole”
Instead of celebrating Sizdeh Bedar, most of Darius’s family joins Mamou in taking the food she prepared for the picnic over to Sohrab’s house. Meanwhile, Darius and his father walk around Yazd together, exploring the Jameh Mosque. As Darius watches his father take in the beauty of the building, he feels he understands him better than he ever has before.
That night, Mamou makes Darius’s favorite meal, and she and Babou surprise him with two birthday presents: an antique teapot and a pair of cleats. Babou reassures Darius that he’s been a good friend, and that Sohrab is just “hurting right now” (291). Darius’s mother then helps him pack, assuring him that she understands his mixed feelings about returning to the US.
Later that evening, while Darius is sitting and reading, Mamou tells him that Sohrab has come to see him. Darius goes outside, and Sohrab awkwardly thanks him for the cleats. Darius once again says he’s sorry about Sohrab’s father, but doesn’t know how to get past the “walls” he senses between him and Sohrab (294). Sohrab in turn apologizes for lashing out at Darius, and invites him out for a walk.
Chapter 37 Summary: “The Cracks of Doom”
Darius and Sohrab go to the rooftop in the park, where they sit quietly for a while; Sohrab thanks Darius for his condolences, but says he isn’t ready to about his father. Sohrab then gives Darius a birthday present: a framed picture of the two boys on Nowruz. The boys talk about how grateful they are to have one another as friends, and Sohrab says he admires Darius for not caring what others think. Darius protests that that isn’t true, but Sohrab insists: “I always try to be what my mom needs. What my amou needs. What you need. But you are the opposite. You are happy with who you are” (296). The conversation turns to how much they’ll miss one another, and just as Sohrab says, “I wish...” (297), he’s interrupted by the azan; the boys listen to it together in comfortable silence. They then walk back to Darius’s grandparents’ house, where Darius struggles with how to say goodbye until Sohrab simply hugs him.
Early the next morning, the Kellners say their goodbyes to Mamou and Babou. Darius is sad to leave his grandmother, and knows that he’ll have a hard time video chatting with her in the future: “Because each time I talked to her, I’d have to say goodbye” (299). Babou tells Darius to take care of Stephen, and then hugs Darius, telling him he loves him. When it’s his mother’s turn to say goodbye to Babou, Darius has a hard time watching, knowing that it’s their final parting. Jamsheed then drives the Kellners to Tehran.
Chapter 38 Summary: “The Best of Both Worlds”
Back in Portland, Darius and his father resume watching Star Trek, but Darius now finds it easier to accept his sister’s occasional presence. Before he returns to school, his mother gets him new wheels and a seat for his bike, but not a new backpack; instead, Darius decides to continue using the messenger bag he’d borrowed from his father.
On his first day back, Darius is bombarded with questions about where he’s been. He largely ignores these until lunch, when he gives Javaneh a bag of Iranian goods her mother had requested. Even then, he struggles to explain what the experience was like: “How could I explain Mamou and Babou and Sohrab and football and the rooftop […] How could I talk about them when I still felt the ache?” (303).
In gym, the class is playing soccer; Darius does well, and when Trent tries to insult him, Chip tells his friend off and gives Darius a fist bump. After class, Coach Fortes congratulates Darius, and urges him to try out for the soccer team. Darius nearly declines out of habit, but thinks of Sohrab and agrees to consider it.
Chapter 39 Summary: “Darius the Great”
After school, Darius finds Chip waiting for him near the bike rack and is immediately on guard. Chip, however, says he was just looking after Darius’s bike, and then asks about Darius’s trip. Remarking that Darius seems different, Chip says, “Maybe you brought some of your ancestor back with you” (309). The two boys say goodbye to one another and then ride home. Darius finds the change in Chip confusing, and resolves to ask Sohrab’s opinion in his next email.
After dinner and Star Trek, Darius makes tea while his father pulls out two cups: “We had started doing this, most nights […] We sat together and I told him the story of my day. It was our new tradition” (311). Darius talks about the possibility of trying out for the soccer team; his father is encouraging, but also urges him not to let himself get talked into it if he doesn’t want to. Darius says he’s considering it, but that he also hopes to be interning at an artisanal tea shop the following year. To his surprise, his father doesn’t care that the internship is unpaid, as long as Darius enjoys the work. Darius is making a second pot of tea when he and his father are joined by Laleh and Shirin. As they all settle around the table, Darius’s father asks if he’s okay, and Darius responds that he’s great.
Chapters 36-39 Analysis
Discussing his reasons for not getting a new backpack, Darius remarks that “it felt like the Kellner & Newton Messenger Bag had gone to Mordor and back with [him]” (302-303)—an allusion to the quest at the heart of The Lord of the Rings. These references are common in the novel, but this one holds significance because Darius’s story arc closely corresponds to the “hero’s journey” of myth, fantasy, science fiction, etc.: a departure from the familiar world into an unknown and fantastical one, and a return home after being tested and transformed.
Darius initially denies that he has changed as a result of his trip to Iran, explaining that he was surprised to discover that he “felt the same as always” after returning to America (32). However, just a few paragraphs later, Darius says that he now feels more comfortable including Laleh in his nightly Star Trek routine and reflects that he might have changed after all. Darius doesn’t elaborate, but it’s clear that one difference is his increased security in his relationships; reassured of his father’s love, Darius no longer sees his sister as a threat. He is also more willing to risk disappointment or embarrassment than he once was, as evidenced by his thoughts about possibly trying out for soccer. Overall, the change is marked enough that it’s obvious even to casual acquaintances like Chip.
More than anything else, Darius’s transformation is focused on greater self-acceptance. When Sohrab praises him for his confidence in who he is, Darius is confused, no doubt thinking of his anxieties about pleasing his father or living up to his Persian heritage. By the end of the novel, however, Sohrab’s words prove true: Darius has achieved a balance between what he previously saw as incompatible elements of his identity.
Darius’s new nightly “tradition” of tea with his father is a good example: It bridges the gap between Darius and his father, and the gap between Darius’s American and Persian sides. Tea is a personal interest of Darius’s, but it’s also closely associated with Persian culture. In the past, Darius has struggled to reconcile these two things, noting early in the novel that he's the only member of his family to drink anything but Persian tea—a remark that conveys his sense of being an outsider even in his own home. By contrast, in the final chapter, tea becomes something that—though still reflective of Darius’s own personality—now connects him to those around him; in introducing his family to new teas and in using tea-drinking as a time to bond with his father, Darius has personalized the Persian tradition of tea.
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