Darius the Great is not Coming Monday

TORDA'S SPRING 2021 TEACHING

Darius the Great is not Coming Monday

4/7/2020

I know that title made you all groan. Live with it. Corona. . .

So this week, unlike most weeks, we are having a whole class discussion not at all about teaching but about the literary qualities of our readings for this week. There are two books in the discussion this week. I know that some of you have read both, but you are not obligated to have done so and are not required to talk about both in this week's post.

Do check the syllabus if you are still wondering which of the two books you should read.

Post a literary analysis/close reading of your book for the week.
The two books we are reading this week have several features in common, which I leave to all of you to discover by reading each other's posts. There are many ways you can think about analyzing these texts--that is to say, any of the myriad ways you would do a close reading of any other novel you might read.

You might look at how various characters react to and against authority.
You might trace what "coming of age" looks like among particular characters.
You might, as the supplemental reading for this week does, take a deep dive into what melodrama looks like in these readings--and if, actually, your novel is a site of melodrama--or tragedy or comedy.
You might look at these two novels as representative (or not) of the genre-fiction you could argue they belong to, the mystery.
You could look at the intersections of any of the above.
You could go you own way entirely.

As per usual, post roughly 300 words (though you guys often go way over, which is fine) and respond with thoughtfulness and care to at least one colleague (roughly 100-200 words). Bonus points if you can make a connection to a text you didn't read.

A NOTE ABOUT THIS WEEK'S POSTS: You will perhaps notice that I'm outlining in some detail how you might approach your analysis. I'm doing that in case you are interested in doing Option 3 of the Final Project options, the literary analysis of a text. This week shows you how you might approach your analysis of one of the texts from the semester. It also introduces you to literary scholarship on YA (if you recall the piece on Louisa May Alcott from week two, that is also an example).

At this point, you will have extensive experience and also draft-ready material for any of the three options for the Final Project. Now would be the time to start to consider which of those three options you'd like to pursue based on what you've produced so far in the class.

58 Comments

Gabby Sleeper

4/9/2020 08:45:03 am

This week I read Darius the Great is Not Okay. Before I get into the analysis, I’m going to provide a brief rundown so that we’re all on the same page. The story follows Darius, a half Persian teenager who struggles with depression, is bullied in school, and has a difficult relationship with his father. He and his family end up taking a vacation to Iran to visit his family, particularly his dying grandfather. Despite befriending another boy named Sohrab (and, I would argue, developing feelings for him), Darius continues to feel out of place. As the story progresses, Darius learns about his Persian history, begins to mend his relationship with his father, and starts to gain more confidence in himself.
One element of melodrama that is present within the novel is, as Katie Kapurch puts it, “exaggerated expression” (172). Darius cries pretty often, which is actually quite refreshing. Darius feels ashamed of his emotions, but he is also reassured multiple times that it is okay to cry. It’s healthy, even. In a society that so often shames men for showing any sadness, it’s really nice to have a book that expresses the exact opposite sentiment. However, likely because of his depression, Darius’ fits of sadness can be over the top. The best example of this comes at the climax of the story, when Darius and Sohrab get into a fight. Darius’ response to this fight is to run away from both Sohrab and his family. He hides away by himself for hours and wallows in self-pity. Darius expresses how he “was never going to stop crying” (Khorram 281) and how he wishes he “could have vanished. [He] wished [he] had a cloaking device so no one would ever find [him]. [He wished [he] could just disappear forever” (281-2). While Darius comments earlier on in the novel that he is not suicidal, these thoughts are still drastic and concerning. One must wonder, if left alone, what Darius may have done. Finally, Darius’ father finds him and the two finally engage in some much-needed communication. Darius’ father finally explains to Darius why he is so hard on him and why he suddenly became withdrawn when Darius was a child. Everything is laid bare between the father-son duo. As Kapurch notes, another element of melodrama is that suffering is necessary for a happy ending. Darius reaches a breaking point after his fight with Sohrab, but that fight is the reason he is able to truly talk with his father, allowing for them to have a better relationship.

Lauren Melchionda

4/11/2020 11:36:25 am

Hi Gabby! I hope you enjoyed reading this novel, it seems like a great read I cant wait to read it myself. I thought the part where you explained Darius's emotions and how he deals with them to be quite interesting. When you say that him crying and showing emotions was hard and embarrassing for him, I like how you added that it is okay and healthy because it is. I feel as though many young adults struggle with their emotions immensely so it is great to read a novel about so many different emotions and how to deal with them. You also mention that he is reassured that it is okay to cry, and I feel as though a lot of people right now in quarantine can relate to Darius and his emotions right now. I really enjoyed reading your response!

Nicole Costa

4/11/2020 12:06:11 pm

Hi Gabby,
I always enjoy reading your responses! Within your response, I can find many character parallels between Darius and the main character of Monday's Not Coming, Claudia. For one, you describe Darius as an outcast with one good friend. In the novel I read, Claudia's only friend is Monday and they are also bullied. Despite their close friendship, we learn that Claudia and Monday experience different times in their coming-of-age period. Claudia's maturity level seems to develop slower than Monday, and eventually causes some disconnect in their relationship. I wonder if Darius and Sohrab experience the same issues and that led to their big fight?
Also, Darius's struggle with depression is similar to the mental instability Claudia experiences after Monday's death. Claudia's "breaking point" is the BUZZ sound that she hears in remembrance of the freezer where Monday was found.

I'm curious if there is any indication in the novel at why the title is Darius the Great? Does he compare himself to a "Great" Persian warrior since he learns his family history? Is it a nickname that possibly his father gave him when he was young, given the mentioned disconnect in their relationship? Or, is that an indication his maturity level?

Gabby Sleeper

4/11/2020 01:24:05 pm

Hey Nicole,
I can definitely see the parallels you're making between Monday and Claudia and Darius and Sohrab. However, I wouldn't say that the fight stems from an issue of maturity. Rather, what happens is that Sohrab receives some particularly heart-breaking news and, in his despair, he lashes out at Darius. It's less about a personality clash and more about some good old teenage angst. As for your second question, you've completely nailed the title. Darius is indeed named after Darius the Great (a Persian king), and throughout the novel he expresses frustration because he feels he can never live up to his namesake.

Becky Tynan

4/11/2020 11:34:48 pm

Hey Gabby, I like your comment about boys being allowed to show emotion, especially crying, representations of that in media should be more common!

Shauna Ridley

4/10/2020 09:13:00 am

The novel Mondays Not Coming by Tiffany Jackson could be classified as a melodramatic novel through the “overall structure and narrative devices like expression, dreams, and suffering” (Kapurch 176). The main character Claudia is in a grieving state of mind because her friend Monday has gone missing and she cannot cope with that. The structure of the novel sets the chapters with recurrent titles labeled as “the before”, “one year before the before”, “the after”, and highlights consecutive months. This structure of jumping between time periods allow the reader to connect to the emotions Claudia is trying to cope with.
When writing about “the before”, Claudia talks about when her friend Monday went missing and she began to notice that something wasn’t right. As Claudia investivates, we have the same feeling that something isn’t quite right with Monday's disappearance. Chapters titled, “one year before the before” create imagery and share past experiences of Claudia and Monday’s friendship. And of course, “the after” is what happened to Claudia after Monday was gone expressing how school, home, dance, and friends changed drastically. The thoughts of all these stages are running through her head in a random order as if her thinking trails off into a whole new thought. As a melodrama is defined above we can experience the expression Claudia has when recognizing her best friend is missing. The dreams of her past with Monday continuously pop up in other chapters and her suffering is apparent in “the after” chapters. Coping with death is hard to accept which I feel from personal experience and it makes your brain think about everything all at once. A young adult will be able to relate to the melodramatic experience because of the structure that ties in Jackson's use of narrative devices such as expression, dreams, and suffering.
All of Claudia's suffering and intense expression helps to create an ending that leaves the reader content. As she reaches the end of her investigation she realizes that Monday has been dead for two years and she hasn’t been able to deal with her emotions properly. She basically convinced herself Monday was still alive only to go through the whole process again. When Claudia finally lets herself feel all the emotions she needs to and faces her demons she can live her life freely and move on.

Jailyn

4/10/2020 08:36:46 pm

Hi Shauna!

Your summary of this novel is well done. This story seems so interesting to me and I hope I can find some time to read it since it seems like something I would completely be into. In comparison to the novel I read, “Darius the Great is Not Okay”, I see a lot of connections with Darius and Claudia both dealing with emotional issues and trying to find ways to cope with them until they come to a realization and face their problems and ultimately find a resolution. Darius has depression and a difficult relationship with his father who also has depression and him and Claudia both try to cope with dealing with their own emotions and worries. Darius also befriends someone named Sohrab and they build a strong and easy going friendship with a difficult challenge and I feel that can relate to Claudia and Monday as well.

My question is when you read the title of the novel what did you think it was going to be about? The title almost makes it seem like this wouldn’t be about a girl Monday who has gone missing. I had something else in mind and I’m interested to see if you thought the same!

Shauna Ridley

4/12/2020 10:01:35 am

Hi Jailyn,
Great question! I actually didn't think it was going to be about a girl named Monday missing either. I'm not completely sure what I expected from the novel. When thinking about it before I read I figured that an intense dramatic event was going to happen where it seemed like Monday would never come. If this was the story I'd assumed that the protagonist gets through the struggle to know that something good will always come from a bad experience even if it doesn't seem like it. Great question!

Justin Carpender

4/10/2020 09:12:21 pm

Hello Shauna!

I really appreciate your vivid description about how this book is formatted! The formatting is incredibly cool and I will certainly have to check the book out when I inevitably have ample time this summer if we are not allowed outside. As Jailyn said, there are connections between Claudia and Darius in terms of mental health issues that they are struggling with. From your description of Claudia and how she convinced herself Monday was still alive,” it seems that if reading her character in terms of mental illness that she may be suffering from schizophrenia. Now, obviously it would be absurd to diagnose a character from a story I have not read, and so I do not want to make that assertion, Darius’ diagnosis was done from a medical professional in the context of the novel. So, in looking at Claudia as a girl coping with the loss of someone close to her, I would compare her to Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye (I feel like I always talk about this novel in this class), or Conrad from Ordinary People. Both of these characters are struggling with the death of a family member. Both of them know that their family member is dead, but the grieving process is intense for both of them, and the memory of them very much drives their respective narratives. This novel seems like a great story about coping with the grief of losing a loved one, one that is intelligently done. My question to you about the story is if it is obvious that Monday is dead in the text? Do you come to terms with her death at the same time as Claudia? Or, do you know the entire time and watch her figure it out? In Darius the Great is Not Okay, the reader goes along with Darius in his journey of being comfortable with who he is and finding his place.

Thank you,
Justin Carpender

Shauna Ridley

4/12/2020 10:06:12 am

Hi Justin!
To answer your question I think that it is very obvious Monday is dead. In some chapters Claudia refers to her death in saying they found the body...or something of that nature. It's a little hard to confirm it because everyone is acting so nonchalantly about Claudia's concerns. Since Claudia is coming to figures of authority to help her and they are not doing anything it seems like she might be overreacting and nothing is wrong but the investigating she does and clues she finds solidifies that Monday is missing. It feels like as the reader we are watching her uncover clues and figure it out but really Monday has already been dead for two years. So in a way we come to terms at the same time she does. I hope this wasn't confusing!

Colby Nilsen

4/12/2020 09:01:51 am

Hey Shauna,
The part where you talk about Claudia’s “suffering and intense expression” and “not being able to deal with her emotions properly” really struck a chord in correlation to Darius in Darius the Great is Not OK. While Claudia seemingly has a justifiable emotional response due to her friend missing, it is important to note that people with depression feel this suffering and intense sadness for no reason. This makes people like Darius who suffer from depression seem “weak” especially to his Middle eastern family who essentially ask “why are you sad” when he explains how he is clinically depressed. While Claudia’s friend is literally missing, this parallels with Darius’s ability to connect with people, even his family. He feels a piece is “missing” from himself and only when he meets his best friend in Iran, Sohrab, does he feel like he is content. In a way, it is almost the exact opposite of Claudia’s experience.

Justin Carpender

4/10/2020 08:56:23 pm

Hello Everyone!

This week I was a member of the group that read Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram, and there is a lot happening thematically in this novel. At its core, this book is one about family and friend struggles, learning to find one’s place, and living with mental health issues. The point in the novel that perfectly ties together all the thematic elements presented is the reconciliation scene between Darius and his father Stephen that occurs between pages 282 and 287.Throughout the novel, it is implied, stated, restated, and emphasized that Darius has conflicting opinions about his father Stephen; he feels that his sister Laleh was his replacement so that his dad was not doomed to have only a disappointing child. The situation with his father is contrasted heavily with Sohrab and his dad; Darius feels incredibly guilty that he is not close to Stephen while Sohrab wants to, but cannot, be close to his father. What I noticed during this scene is that Darius, with one exception, does not refer to his dad as Stephen Keller once his dad opens up about his personal struggles with mental health earlier. It was incredibly powerful to see Darius finally confront his Dad in stating, “‘I’ll never be good enough for you’” as it demonstrates Darius’ growth as a person during his time in Iran, he is standing up for himself against his father, not unlike Stephen’s desires for Darius to stand up for himself with the bullies back at school (283). Stephen Keller opening up to Darius about his own struggles is what is needed to repair their damaged relationship, it takes more than just one conversation to fix what has been broken, but it is a start. As Darius tells Sohrab later, “friends forgive,” Darius is on the road to forgiveness with this open conversation with his father (294). The reconciliation scene between Darius and his father and their open communication about depression is allowing the two of them to repair their damaged relationship and to also allow Stephen to accept Darius for who he is, and not try to change him.

Thank you,
Justin Carpender

Ethan Child

4/11/2020 03:30:18 pm

Justin,
Your description of a "reconciliation scene" between Darius and his father corresponds to a similar scene in Monday's Not Coming, in which Claudia and her mother share a similar opening up to each other. Perhaps a key difference between these scenes is who takes the initiative in mending a broken relationship. You observe Sohrab's growth as he gets the courage to confront his father. In Monday's Not Coming, Jackson shows the growth from the parent. Claudia's mother finally acknowledges that she was wrong for shielding Claudia from the truth about Monday. She concludes her confession saying, "I'm sorry, Sweet Pea. But please, don't hate me," to which Claudia responds, "I could never hate you, Ma. Never!" (417). While this scene also shows a young protagonist coming of age by seeing her parent in a new light, the reconciliation is inspired by the parent and not the child's intentions. Both of these scenes, however, provide a parent-child reconciliation as a melodramatic catharsis.

Jess Rinker

4/12/2020 06:05:33 am

Justin, you make such a great point that, by standing up to his father on 283, Darius is actually being the person his father wants him to be! I also talked about this scene in my post, because it highlights the importance of melodrama in the YA novel. As you mentioned Sohrab's relationship with his father juxtaposes Darius', and I think it even hightens the melodrama. Not only does it cause drama between Sohrab and Darius, but it also indicates how teens feel the pressures of their own problems very acutely, even if it does not seem as tragic as someone elses. A main theme of the story--it's okay to not be okay--applies here too. It's okay if your source of sadness doesn't seem as worthy as everyone elses; it still is okay to be sad about it. You make another great connection between Darius' relationship with Sohrab and his father when you point out that forgiving Sohrab opens Darius' path to forgiveness all around--forgiving his father and even forgiving himself. The conversations between Darius and Stephen and the emails he sends to Sohrab at the end of the novel all represent the resolution of the melodrama because, as you say, the conversations are steps toward bonding and healing.

Ethan Child

4/10/2020 09:03:54 pm

In her novel Monday’s Not Coming, Tiffany D. Jackson manipulates time by restructuring the chronology of the plot. Jackson’s sequencing of plot events fulfills an obvious purpose—concealing the fact that Monday is dead and, thereby, creating mystery. This also positions readers in Claudia’s perspective. Claudia does not know that Monday is dead because she has suppressed the memory, while readers do not know because Jackson does not reveal it until the end of the book. Beyond these structural concerns, Jackson’s sequencing of events underscores a theme in Monday’s Not Coming. By alternating chapter settings between “The Before” and “The After,” Jackson suggests the difficulty of existing in the present when coping with trauma. The gap between “The Before” and “The After” comprises the two years that Claudia has suppressed from her memory—that is, the two years following Monday’s death. Claudia, however, also experiences these gaps in time in her own struggles to exist in the present. For example, when Claudia is going to Megan’s party, her mother urges her to “try to just be in the moment . . . and forget about everything else that’s going on” (282-283). Later, when Claudia’s friends pressure her to drink, Claudia thinks to herself, “Be in the moment, Claudia” (293). Claudia struggles to exist in the present—so much so that she suppresses the reality of her friend’s death and mentally lives in “The Before.” Jackson traces Claudia’s self-discovery of the truth through the character’s realization of what happened to Monday. Claudia has the realization that, in order to figure out what happened to Monday, she needs to go to the end of Monday’s journal and read that first. Claudia says, “I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. Start from the end and work my way back. I guess ’cause you always start a book from the beginning. Just like this story, you got to know a person’s past to understand their present” (368). By reading Monday’s journal out of order, Claudia parallels the way that Jackson orders events in Monday’s Not Coming. Just like the sequencing of events in a book, the “present” cannot exist in reality without a past and a future. The double entendre of the book’s title illuminates Jackson’s focus on time; “Monday’s Not Coming” does not only refer to the character but also the day, asserting a cessation of time. Due to her inability to confront the past and the present, time symbolically ceases for Claudia in the two years following Monday’s death. It is only when Claudia finally confronts what actually happened that she is able to move forward with her life.

Gabby Sleeper

4/11/2020 01:45:13 pm

Hi Ethan,
The protagonist of Darius the Great is Not Okay suffers from similar issues of not being able to be present. While he is not literary struggling with time as Claudia does, he has trouble connecting with those around. He struggles to connect with his family, assuming that he is not wanted and isolating himself from everyone. This, similarly to Claudia, comes as a result of mental illness, as Darius' depression leads him to have very low self-estem. This, of course, is slightly different than Claudia's issues of amnesia brought on by trauma, but even without her trauma, we do see Claudia struggle to connect with people who are not Monday.
On the topic of the organization of the book, I am curious if you noticed any connection between the chapters. Did you happen to notice any connection between the end of one chapter and the beginning of the next? Or did the order of the chapters seem more random and disjointed?

Ethan Child

4/11/2020 03:36:47 pm

Gabby,
Thank you for your thoughtful response. You draw an interesting comparison between the way that both these books deal with some sort of mental illness. It might add to your point that Claudia is also dyslexic. While on a quite different plane from Darius's mental illness, both of these protagonists provide neurodiverse characters.
In regard to your question, I actually found it difficult to trace exactly when each chapter was taking place, so the connection or continuity between chapters was not always clear. Beside knowing that a chapter either took place in "The Before" or "The After," I was not sure how far apart different events were occuring. This confusion, however, is deliberate on Jackson's part. So it is not random or disjointed; contrarily, the ambiguous ordering of the chapters heightens the mystery of the novel.

Becky Tynan

4/11/2020 08:07:06 pm

Hi Ethan I like that you talked about the way Jackson structured the novel's timeline I think as a device it helps to create suspense and add to the mystery factor. I think the time problem in the novel speaks to the grieving process and makes sure as readers we do connect with the character's we've been reading.

Megan Shaughnessy

4/12/2020 07:54:07 am

Ethan, great analysis of the novel! I agree that the ambiguous ordering of the chapters heightens the mystery of the novel. I love how you explain the chapters because, at first, I was confused, trying to figure out what the titles meant. Then I just stopped looking at the titles, hoping I could try to figure it out. When I found out at the end the symbolism behind "The Before" and "The After," I wanted to reread the novel. I wonder how the book would read if readers were given insight into the meaning behind the chapter titles without giving away the ending in the beginning, or earlier on. You stated that "Jackson suggests the difficulty of existing in the present when coping with trauma" and I instantly thought of the novel, " What We Lose" by Zinzi Clemmons. The character of Thandi explores the difficulty of existing in the present while coping with the trauma of losing her mother and the living reality of apartheid within her family. What you stated immediately had me thinking of Clemmons and how she uses memories and trauma to drive her novel. Both of these novels explore that memories and trauma can create their own reality, which is seen first hand in the confusion of Claudia's mind.

Savannah Resendes

4/11/2020 09:56:22 am

This week I read “Darius the Great is Not Okay” by Adib Khorram. In this story we follow Darius, a half-Persian teenage who is clinically depressed, gets bullied in school, loves tea and has a strained relationship with his father. Him and his family travel to Iran to visit family, specifically his dying grandfather. While in Iran, he makes a friend, learns more about his family history and starts to mend his relationship with his father. One thing that I noticed about this novel One thing that Darius really struggles with in this novel is his identity and wanting to fit in with his Persian family. Even though he is half-Persian, he never feels “Persian enough” around his family. He cannot understand Farsi, he does not relate to them on a cultural level (with the exception of soccer/non-American football). He feels inferior to his sister, Laleh, who seems to blend in perfectly with the Persian side of the family. Darius is constantly going back and forth feeling if he is Persian enough, or not Persian enough. Such as when he goes to visit the Darius the Great in the Ruin of Persepolis. He states: “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” (158). He feels as though he is always being judged and different from his family, and he feels that it disappoints them, especially his grandfather, who make shim feel insecure about his Depression, as he says “’You know, in Iran, boy don’t worry about these things so much’”(120), when Darius cries in front of him. He feels the most Persian when he is with Sohrab, especially when he gifted him a Team Melli Jersey during Nowruz. Darius states “I pulled the jersey over my head – the collar of my Persian Casual shirt stuck up underneath – but still, I felt like a real Iranian…It made me feel like I belonged” (180-181). Darius struggles a lot with his identity and his heritage during his trip to Iran, but I think that learning about his heritage, his family history, and where he comes from made him have a stronger sense of self and this leads to his transformation when he comes back to Portland. He is more sure of himself and his actions, and he even plays soccer. Non-American football in gym like he did in Iran and beats the boys who would tease him. This sense of identity really shapes the character of Darius Kellner.

Natasha Cardin

4/11/2020 06:26:35 pm

Hey Savannah, I read "Monday's Not Coming". Claudia was very comfortable and immersed in her friendship with Monday and used that to shape her identity. Unfortunately after Monday disappears, Claudia has to find out who she is without her. This seems similar to Darius' struggle with his identity and where he fits in. It seems like both characters spend the novel developing their own identities and figuring out where and how they fit in.

Nicole Costa

4/11/2020 10:53:55 am

Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson follows the personal “investigation” by middle-school aged Claudia to find her best friend who, unfortunately, was a victim to horrific accounts of child abuse. While this novel’s genre functions as a mystery/thriller, I found myself observing the underlying themes Jackson stresses in her novel. For one, Claudia’s dyslexia manages to go unnoticed by everyone but Monday for some time. In her journal to Monday, we can see how she struggles: “those travling ones. Me and MA and Daddy went to Chili’s to celabreat. Wish you where here to” (54). The multiple spelling and grammar issues with that journal entry serves as a context clue into Claudia’s learning disability.
I found it interesting that we didn’t have a teaching discussion this week because I noticed so many issues with the education system in this novel and I think that was Jackson’s intention. For example, Ms.Valente seems to be the only teacher concerned with Monday’s absences at the beginning of the school year. We see neglect from the school district and from social services when it comes to investigating the missing child. Eventually Ms. Valente snaps and expresses that “everything about this school is driven by our ranking. No one has time to just take a moment and really be with our students .. all you are in this school is a score” (218). Ms. Valente’s frustration is a huge statement by Jackson! In all, we can see how the students' well-being is neglected due to the school’s ambition to produce a better educational ranking among the state, and even nationally. Does anyone remember applying for high school? Well, Claudia and her other classmates struggle with deciding where to apply for high school, not college. Banneker High School is the top notch place to apply but many of Claudia’s teachers feel she won’t get accepted. It seemed like a college application process to me. I was really interested in the educational aspect of this novel, so I did a little research on Banneker High and it turns out they have an IB program like we were discussing a few weeks ago. It’s no coincidence that Jackson’s novel is set in Washington D.C. where the nation’s power resides.
Monday’s missing person case many have flown under the radar like Claudia's dyslexia. Overall, I think the main idea in Tiffany D. Jackson’s novel is about children of color being left behind; whether it be physically, educationally, mentally, criminally, and even financially.

Another compelling angle of Monday’s Not Coming is Claudia’s vivid description of colors. She is obsessed with coloring, painting nails, and describing what color a person would represent. For Claudia, the colors are never simple primary colors like red, blue, green, etc. She describes the depth of her colors. At the end, Claudia exclaims, “if I was a color, I would be white, vast in my blackness. Pure, whole, virginal, predictable” (556). My interpretation is that the incorporation of color depth was extremely poetic, but also the author’s bold statement about people of color in this novel. Anyone who didn’t get a chance to read this novel, I would highly recommend diving into Tiffany D. Jackson’s work!

Maddie Butkus

4/11/2020 12:41:13 pm

Hey Nicole! What a great topic to write about! The educational system throughout your reading truly does sound concerning, especially since the educators within this school only see their students as a score. Additionally, your point about children of color being left behind in some way was also seen within my reading of Darius the Great is Not Okay just in a different format. In Darius’ high school, Chapel Hill High School, there was a strict “Zero Tolerance Policy toward bullying, fighting, plagiarism, drugs and alcohol” (10-11) which was mainly put into place for the students. While you had mentioned the problems between the educators and their students, I read mostly about the problems between students themselves even with this Zero Tolerance Policy in place. Darius, being partly Persian, and his friend Javaneh, who was fully Persian, both got picked on in some way from their fellow peers. Since they did not exactly look the same as other students, they ultimately became the target of bullying aspects. Darius would constantly be picked on and even was called a terrorist by a classmate which although this was not allowed, the students would sneak it by the teachers. Both of our readings show that there are problems within the educational system that do need to be addressed in order to start some progress of making these systems better overall. My question for you is how do you think the teachers did not catch on to Claudia’s dyslexia or did they just ignore it? Is this a reason why they thought Claudia would not get accepted into Banker High School and were there other possible reasons?

Nicole Costa

4/11/2020 01:57:18 pm

Hi Maddie,
One of the reasons that Claudia's dyslexia went unnoticed for some time is because Monday would often help write her homework. Monday always served as Claudia's "tent" or protection. However, when Monday is missing Claudia's grades decline. I think the general idea Jackson was trying to communicate is that her learning disability should have been noticed beforehand, despite Monday helping cover for her. In Monday's Not Coming, we also witness how the school administration pay little mind to the fact that Monday and her siblings haven't showed up for school. They simply just assume they moved because of the enforced rent inflation.

Becky Tynan

4/11/2020 11:31:23 pm

Hi Nicole I love that you bring up the problems with the education system in the novel. I talked about that too in my response. I like also how after you talk about DC as the setting you mention Claudia's dyslexia in comparison to Monday's disappearance- but is this really comparing Claudia's dyslexia more to the child abuse Monday suffers? What do you think? And if it is what do you think Jackson's purpose was comparing such drastically different problems in their lives? Does it say anything about the theme of home/communities? It is a really good parallel you made to think about when comparing the two characters.
I also really enjoy that you responded to the colors in the novel, as I feel like my response brushed over because when I finally got there I just thought it was too long already but I am totally fascinated with color in the novel and what the significance is- how male characters are represented as natural colors and how no matter what the situation in the novel Claudia stays calling colors their "paint sample" names, very intricate and descriptive. Yet she is white and that was really smart of you to observe because your comment makes me think about the words she uses to describe the white color she is, and she uses words like virginal pure and whole- things that are sexual to me, things that if we stay comparing her to Monday, would we call Monday those things? Do you think the colors say anything about sexuality in the novel? I agree with you that Claudia's own description of color also says something about race, and white is like a blank slate, like she keeps forgetting, there's just so much symbolism here. great job addressing it in your post!

Lauren Melchionda

4/11/2020 11:29:17 am

I read the novel Mondays Not Coming by Tiffany Jackson. I found that the set up of the book to be quite unique and interesting as well. The way that some chapters were labeled “before”, “after”, and “a year before the before” was an interesting and dramatic set up for timeline. Claudia is worried and also grieving about her friend Molly who has gone missing. Claudia is having a very difficult time dealing with this and by connecting these time framed chapters to Claudia show readers how much time passes and the effect this has on Claudia and her emotions during this time. She is feeling a surge of different emotions and learning to cope with each. Claudia begins to do some investigating herself which was during the “before” chapter. She begins to realize that some things just aren't adding up correctly in her mind with Monday’s disappearance. In “before the before” we get a background story on the two friends relationship together and how much fun that they use to have together. It take an emotional turn when the chapter “the after” comes along and Claudia is now going on with her daily life but now it so much different without her best friend there. It was a very dramatic and sad change for Claudia as she went to school and other activities such as dancing and couldn't help but think of Monday and how she was always there for times like these. Trying to cope with her best friend missing or even being dead took a toll on Claudia. However, at the end of the novel, Claudia realizes that her best friend has been gone and dead for about two whole years now. She realizes it is time to accept her death and to grieve the proper way with her emotions and her family as well as Monday’s family. She is finally able to move on from this horrible experience.

Gabrielle Boutin

4/12/2020 07:47:10 am

Hi Lauren!
I read Darius the Great is Not Okay so it was really interesting to read the analysis of Monday’s Not Coming. I really like how this novel seems to play with the timeline. I think that whenever a novel does that (though it can be confusing) it adds another layer of depth to the story. I think that both of the stories deal with heavy emotions and they both lead to some version of acceptance. For Darius, he was trying to accept himself. He struggled with how he saw himself and usually only saw himself as others saw him. It took meeting his best friend Sohrab that he saw his true potential and how great he really was. It sounds like in Monday’s Not Coming Claudia has to accept her new reality without her best friend and deal with the emotions that come with that.

Olivia Leonard

4/12/2020 09:06:54 am

Hi Lauren! Great summary-it sounds like Mondays not Coming is a really interesting novel (I'm looking forward to reading it!). I thought it was interesting how you say the novel is set up in different time periods and it has Claudia reminiscing on her time with her missing best friend. When you said "she is feeling a surge of different emotions and learning to cope with each" I immediately thought of Darius. Darius struggles with depression and confidence. Do you think Claudia was dealing with a mental illness such as depression after the disappearance of her friend? Is Claudia so used to who she is when she is with her friend that she is also struggling to discover herself now that her friend is not there?

Samantha Colon

4/17/2020 05:40:47 pm

Hi,

I think you made a great summary! You mentioned Claudias experience after losing a friend in the book making her feel a range of emotions and upset. The character Claudia is quite similar to the character Darius in the sense they both feeling emotional or upset however, Claudia is upset about a loss of a friend while Darius depression and emotion comes from the loss of himself and connection between his family and social standing falling apart. I find it ironic though how in one book Claudia loses a friend and it takes time to move on while Darius gains one in order to find himself.

Jailyn Tavares

4/11/2020 11:38:49 am

This week I read Darius The Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram. Darius is an American-Persian teenager who faces the struggles of depression, being bullied, and has a tough relationship with his father. From the beginning of the novel, the reader can see that Darius has many challenges in his everyday life and it makes it hard with his depression. He loves tea and works at a Tea Haven and that is something the plays a role throughout the novel because tea is something important in both his culture in Iran and also in his everyday life in America. He goes to an all boys school and is bullied by the other boys and seems to have no friends On top of it, his home life is strained because of the awkward relationship he has with his father, who also has depression. He feels his father has a better relationship with his younger sister who seems to be glorified by her mother as well since she is able to speak Farsi and comes off more Persian than him. When Darius receives new of his grandfather dying in Iran, the whole family takes a trip down there. In Iran Darius learns more about himself than ever. He becomes very close with a boy named Sohrab and he becomes someone significant in Darius' life in the short time they have together because he is the one who makes Darius feel better about himself and makes Darius feel wanted. Also on this trip, Darius learns about his heritage and begins to build a relationship with both of his grandparents. However, being in Iran makes Darius face challenges such as being accepted for who he is because he feels that he is not a good enough Persian and a disappointment to his grandparents and family. With the help of Sohrab, Darius feels that he understands him and accepts him for who he is as well as helps him with his depression and makes others so the same to Darius. In the climax of the novel, Darius and Sohrab get into a fight and it brings Darius to his lowest point in the novel. When his dad finds him, they break down to each other and spill all feelings and confessions to each other which in the end brings them together and builds a strong relationship between them. By the end of the novel, Darius learns to be his own version of Darius the Great.

This novel is great for learning about Darius' Persian culture. Many parts of the novel have phrases and words in Farsi, we learn of the food in Iran, famous buildings, and certain traditions. In the beginning of the novel we see the American culture and then switch over to the Persian culture in Iran. The reader gets an in-depth lesson of Darius' heritage throughout this novel.

Becky Tynan

4/11/2020 08:15:18 pm

Hi Jailyn, I love when books do that and include word in native languages of the characters. This reminds me of The Poet X and Monday's Not Coming because The Poet X uses Spanish (and Spanish that is authentic to the Dominican Republic & New York). But In Monday's Not Coming there is frequent use of southern dialect in AAVE (African American Vernacular English) which helped create more dynamic and authentic characters, as it does in the other two texts. A classroom that teaches multi cultural texts is one that creates more aware and more engaged students. In engages and teaches students about those "different" from themselves and engages those who may share the same cultures represented in the text.

Maddie Butkus

4/11/2020 12:09:04 pm

This week I read Darius the Great is Not Okay by Khorram Adib. Since a few of my fellow classmates have already provided a great summary of this book, I will get right into my analysis. Like we have been discussing a lot about this semester, I want to analyze how this book is another great example of a coming of age story while also having a major melodramatic characteristic seen throughout.
Firstly, the emotions that Darius feels throughout his childhood are easily relatable to readers everywhere even if they have not gone through the same experiences Darius has gone through. Feeling as if he doesn’t belong, whether that be at school, in Iran or even within his own family, Darius expresses his feelings of believing that he is a complete disappointment in every aspect of his life. Unfortunately, the place he feels he does not fit in the most is within his own family, for they constantly make Darius feel like he is a disappointment, whether they mean to or not. Furthermore, Darius, being clinically diagnosed with depression along side his father, believes that nothing bad ever happened to him within his life to make him depressed and that it is just his brain that makes the wrong chemicals. Having read through this work, I want to challenge Darius’ thought process here for I truly and completely believe that his depression is mainly caused by his father. Every action that Darius does around his father, afterwards he always looks to his dad to see what his reaction is going to be which is almost always negative. Darius, confiding in his friend Sohrab from Iran, goes on to state about his father, “It’s just … everything I do, he’s unhappy with me. How I cut my hair. What I eat. The backpack I take to school. My job. Everything. He’s always disappointed in me. He’s always trying to change me. To make me do things the way he would do them. To make me act how he would act” (150). Darius even goes as far to say that he feels as if his father doesn’t really love him which all really started when his father suddenly stopped telling him bedtimes story when he was little. It is through all of these instances that I truly believe that Darius’ depression was, and still is, mainly caused by his father but it never seems as if Darius ever fully realizes this.
Additionally included within the conflict between him and his father, Darius shows a characteristic of melodrama that is widely seen throughout this story. In her article comparing melodramatic impulses in young adult literature like the Twilight Saga and Jane Eyre, Katie Kapurch states, “Bella’s silence is furthermore a characteristic of the melodrama, which is marked by expression, as Brooks explains : ‘Mutes correspond first of all to a repeated use of extreme physical conditions to represent extreme moral and emotional conditions’’(57/177). While Darius is not completely mute, readers can easily pick up on the insane amount of times he answers people by simply saying “Uh”. It is almost as if he is afraid to speak and so unsure of himself that that is all that he can get out of his mouth for he is petrified of saying the wrong thing, especially in front of or around his father. This melodramatic characteristic, which is marked by expression, clearly represents extreme moral and emotional conditions set within Darius. He feels as if nothing he says or does will ever be good enough or make him feel as if he belongs for he makes himself believe (due to his constant bullying by the people around him) that he will never fit in no matter how hard he tries.
As the book comes to an end, the conflict between this father and son duo starts to make amends when they finally start having better communication ultimately leading Darius to start to believe in himself more and more. It is through this timeline that readers can tell how hard Darius’ coming of age story was for him and all that he had to endure it order to finally start to feel comfortable with himself.

Olivia Sweeney

4/11/2020 07:10:13 pm

Hi Maddie!

Based off of your great insight to the other novel presented this week for our class discussion, I definitely can see similar aspects both novels trace. Similar to Darius in the novel you read, Claudia in "Monday's Not Coming" also goes through a whirlwind of emotions. Although Claudia does not feel like an extreme outcast like Darius does from his family, her friend Monday that passed away was one of the only people she was truly herself around. She was confident to read and write in front of Monday, just like Darius seemed to confide in his friend Sohrab. Friends are truly there for us in ways others will never be able to, and I think this seems to be a strong message in both novels, whether it is large or small, us readers definitely take that lesson away. Both of the main characters in the novels we had to read this week clearly both struggle with the adversities of strong emotions. These two main characters have definitely gone through immense hardships that support their strong emotions.

Shauna Ridley

4/12/2020 09:58:43 am

Hi Maddy,
I find your response very relatable to the novel Mondays Not Coming. You pointed out that Darius probably gets his depression because of his father which seems very true from what you've been saying. It's pretty sad that someone that close to you can cause you pain and I feel like with a coming of age story it is important to let kids know that not everyone they meet or know is going to positively impact them. The novel seems to show, based on your comments, that Darius has trouble figuring this out until he talks about it with his father. Facing your problems, in my opinion, is really the most effective way to fix them. In Mondays Not Coming I feel like her family and surrounding people cause her a similar type of discomfort. None of them will acknowledge her efforts to find her friend Monday. She talks about the issue to her mother, father, a school teacher, Mondays family and nobody will help her. This is obviously because Monday has been dead for two years and Claudia cannot come to terms with it. I feel that Claudia was able to talk out her feelings as well to go on living her life at peace. Although people ignored her this was a part of her struggle that she needed to figure out on her own, just as Darius did. After talking they eventually both came to terms with their situation and grew from it. My question to you would be, does this message get through to young adults and do you thinks that novels like this can really help them through their growing process? Great post!

Maddie Butkus

4/13/2020 01:19:58 pm

Hey Shauna! Thank you for your insightful response. To answer your question, I really do believe that the message of this novel does get through to young adults for it informs readers that life is not always easy but there are ways to overcome this hard moments. Just like you had mentioned, knowing that not everyone you meet will have a positive impact on your life, including close family members, is very important for young adult readers to understand. It is with this knowledge that they can confront the people who are negatively impacting their lives and try to work on a solution just like Darius did within this novel. Overall, the message throughout this coming of age novel is extremely important and I believe it is novels like this one that can truly help young adults understand the different ways that they can better their own coming of age experiences.

Natasha Cardin

4/11/2020 06:19:30 pm

With all that's going on right now I have fallen a bit behind with my school work. That being said, I read the entire book, "Monday's Not Coming" today and it was a great distraction from what is happening around us. This book was quite the page turner. It jumps through time, set "before" and "after" the disappearance of Claudia's best friend Monday. I think overall, Claudia is coming to terms with a life without Monday and who Claudia is without her. Claudia found safety in her friendship with Monday, she immersed herself in it and shut the rest of the world out. Claudia had no other friends than Monday, she struggled academically (Monday would often do Claudia's work for her), etc. However, in the after chapters, Claudia begins to come into her own while coming to terms with the loss of Monday's friendship, beginning to dance again, making new friends, developing a relationship with a boy from her church, dealing with her academic struggles, etc. I liked how while reading, you were seeing the two sides of Claudia, how she is progressing after Monday is gone, and also how her friendship with Monday had shaped her. Overall I loved the novel and Claudia's character arc, my only question is why the author, Tiffany D. Jackson throws in the twist that "after" is really two years after Monday has disappeared and Claudia has been having episodes of amnesia during that time. I'm not sure what that brought to the story. If someone has some insight I would love to hear!

Becky Tynan

4/11/2020 11:19:37 pm

Hi Natasha I think time in novel is stretched and placed out of order for a suspense purpose and I think it really lends itself more so to the genre of the text as a mystery and as a tragedy, because in tragedy stories time works agains the characters and we find out the Claudia never even had time working against her (or with her) because from the very beginning as we find out she was already too late.

Olivia Sweeney

4/11/2020 06:57:57 pm

This week, I was assigned to read the novel “Monday’s Not Coming” by Tiffany Jackson. This amazing novel follows the main character, Claudia, who is trying to cope with the disappearance of her friend Monday who is missing. Claudia finds it extremely difficult to come to terms with her friend being M.I.A, as anyone would be if one of the loved ones and/or closest friends disappeared. The structure of this novel is one that is truly unique. The timeline of this novel allows readers to almost figuratively “be” in Claudia’s head and understand what is going on. The novel follows Claudia’s explanation of when Monday first fell off the grid and Claudia had a gut feeling like a lot of us do when things are just off. Through Jackson’s organization of setting up the chapters between “The Before” and “The After” parallel allows readers to understand how hard it is for Claudia to live in the present knowing about the past in regard to her friend Monday. Claudia has tried her best to avoid these gruesome times facing the fact her friend is gone for two whole years, as many of us in this exact situation would also try to tune everything out. Sometimes blocking everything out seems like the easier option at the time. It is so hard for Claudia to try and let go of the fact that her friend is dead, so rather, she almost lives in the past rather than being in the present. It is extremely difficult for her to live in the present without Monday physically there. What is so unique about Claudia’s closeness to Monday is that right from the beginning, she knew something was off. When she did not see her brother August or her sister Tuesday at school, she also wondered where Monday was. When the teacher did not call Monday’s name, she immediately suspected something was off. “Wait, she didn’t call Monday Charles? Monday’s name always came before mine. Does she have the wrong list? Did the move Monday to another homeroom? Maybe, but, I mean, Monday would have told me. Wouldn’t she?” (25). This quote is just a representation of the several examples in this novel depicting how close these two girls were, therefore Claudia was definitely right to suspect something was off. In “The Before” chapters, us readers are provided with several instances of insight on the friendship of these two girls. “The After” chapters are very gloomy as Claudia is trying to cope with life without Monday in it. I always think a book is extremely powerful when you can personally relate to it. A couple months ago on Valentine’s day, I received heartbreaking news that one of my oldest and closest best friends tragically passed away unexpectedly. Like Claudia, there were definitely times I was in withdrawal, as it was easier to think it was just all a dream and not true, but then reality just truly smacks you in the face sometimes—and hard. I can understand why Claudia went about things the way she did, because it was so painful for her to live her life without Monday there. What made this process worse for Claudia and took her two years to finally come to terms with it, is she never fully got closure until she drove herself to that point of finally being at piece with Monday’s death two whole years later. Everyone truly grieves differently, but being in an extremely similar situation to Claudia, in my eyes, it is so clear how she goes back and forth to “the before” and “the after” when thinking about Monday. I think Jackson does this to truly illustrate how one’s mind works when coping and trying to grieve the loss of a close one. Just like Claudia, I sometimes find myself stuck in “the before” when thinking about my friend before I received the news that will forever change my outlook on life. I find myself going back to high school memories just from a simple thought or a picture that pops up with my friend in it. I truly enjoyed this book and loved how Jackson so beautifully wrote this novel and organized the layout of it as well.

Becky Tynan

4/11/2020 08:03:17 pm

Tiffany D. Jackson’s novel wrestles with structural racism and it’s interaction with family dynamics, especially those affecting women. I think thematically Jackson is most interested in injustice. I would classify this story as a young adult tragic mystery. The story centers around Claudia, an 8th grade girl who’s best friend, another young girl Monday, goes missing. Both girls are black and live in Washington D.C. Jackson’s choice of D.C. for setting is one of her first essential choices to highlight injustice because as Americans I think there is a connotation about D.C. being the place where government is centralized and justice being served in the United States and it’s supposed to be a patriotic place and this setting paired with Jackson’s story just adds a really ironic element.
Jackson shows the socio economic struggles of black communities in the city. The underlying conflict of Ed Borough, a government housing building park is evicting their residents to sell to land developers. There is a haunting repetition of the slogan “Save Ed Borough, It’s home! It’s a community!”. This slogan emphasizes the argument in the text of what is home? What is a community? And what are the obligations of the government in those places? Monday lives in the development with her mother and three siblings, an older sister April 16, a younger brother August 5, and a baby sister Tuesday about 3-4. Claudia lives in a house with both her parents. The contrasting domestic settings help to serve as different examples of community/home. But neither is perfect. Claudia’s mother struggles with fertility issues and has lost 4 babies since having her. Monday’s mother’s four babies she has and Claudia’s mother’s 4 miscarriages is one of the more obvious ways the two representations of mothers begin to be linked. The comparison of the two mothers and the two daughters brings the focus of the text to mostly women and girls struggles. Though I would argue a that Jackson’s male characters inthe text are key to the argument that this is a feminist novel.
Claudia also struggles with dyslexia, which readers find out before the adult characters in the text do through Claudia’s journal entries addressed to Monday. Monday is always shown as “gifted” and would handle the content while Claudia is more creative and throughout the novel is always drawing, coloring, and has an interesting obsession colors that's spotlighted. Which I think the text links as something to her dyslexia. I looked for an external article about diagnosis of learning disabilities in specifically female black children but I couldn't find what I was looking for. This issue just felt really relevant and piqued my interest because it is autism awareness month and I know there are still a lot of injustices in diagnosing female children. This part of Claudia that Jackson includes mostly to highlight the injustice in the education system.
On the other side of the domestic interior is Monday’s home with 4 children and a single mother who abuses them. Throughout the novel it is learned the children in Monday's family disappeared for a month due to being seperated in the foster care system and were then returned to their mother with a failure of a social worker to check back in. The unfolding of these events is the main way that Jackson represents the failures and injustices systems like Child Services, the foster care system, ect. Neither interior/family is the one that Jackson advocates for. We hear a lot from characters who say it is not their place to speak up or intervene in another personal family business. This failure to intervene and speak up about injustices in the home, from the education system, child services, and institutional racism, like redlining and other ways the government operates in the text fail to do “their job” But what exactly should their job be? Jackson brings up this question in her argument and decides there was never a community in the first place. While there is healing in the text I would argue that it is just the beginning of what Jackson argues needs to happen. The novel was a little slow at first but I ended up really really liking it and Jackson's acknowledgments at the end of the text are beautifully written.

Molly Drain

4/11/2020 08:33:50 pm

Becky,
Thank you for your post! Based off of your description of the text you read I noticed some clear connections to Darius is Not Okay in that Darius and Claudia share some commonalities. Both go through and struggle with issues within their family as well as issues them selves. Darius is at first unable to have a relationship worth noting with his father and also suffers from depression. Claudia also struggles herself with dyslexia, undiagnosed at first. Claudia had Monday as her friend and confidant and Darius had Sohrab. My question for you is how do you think this text fits into the YA genre or how it represents it? Also do you think the title did the novel any justice/ what are your thoughts on the title itself?

Molly Drain

4/11/2020 08:19:07 pm

For this week, I read Darius The Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram. This novel examines at its core the relationship between the main character Darius and his father and the secrets that live within their relationship. It is at the same time examining relationships among peers including friends (Sohrab) and foe (Trent). Darius is a young man who suffers from depression, and feels that at his core he is alone, without true friends and without the support or love from his father that he refers to by his full name: Stephan Kellner. Their relationship from the very beginning is rocky and it is easy to tell that they are not very close. Darius even goes as far as saying “sometimes I thought about hoe I didn’t really feel like Stephan Kellner’s son at all” (14). Darius is burdened by the bullying he has been on the receiving end of from Trent, as well as with the struggle to find his own way and to find a true friend. This all changes when his family takes a trip to Iran to visit family where he meets Sohrab. Darius and his father have a moment together in the chapter “First. Best Destiny”. Prior to this Darius had wished he “saw him less” (280) referring to his father or as he liked to refer to him, Stephan Kellner. Darius had run away from his family and from his friend Sohrab and his father caught up to him. Darius up until this moment had believed that his father did not support him and that he had only been a disappointment of a son who his father did not love. However, this is not the case. His father opened up about his own illness and battle with depression on page 285 and explained why he had been so absent from his son’s life as he felt like a “zombie” (285). For the first time Darius felt that “there were no walls between us” (286), being him and his father. It was during this that the reader gets a hint towards the true feelings that Darius has for Sohrab when he notes “maybe he knew, without me saying it out loud…maybe he did” (287). Darius in this moment was no longer alone, no longer angry and no longer ashamed of his relationship with his father. His father had accepted him for who he truly is without question and that was what he was searching for: a real connection. This novel explores the challenges a young man can have when creating and maintaining relationships not just with his family but with friends as well. As for a YA piece, it touches upon topics of acceptance, sexuality, relationships and mental illness that are all very relevant in the lives of YA readers.

Becky Tynan

4/11/2020 11:16:11 pm

Hi Molly,
I think the text fits into young adult as a genre because it's melodramatic, there is an argument that the text has some coming of age elements but its really more melodrama in my opinion.
The title I really like because on the cover it's a little misleading until you find out Monday is a person. Also the the title of the text is said in the book, sometimes that can be corny, but I think it integrated well into the story and into the moment of the plot when it came up. I think that was a creative question about the title!

Jess Rinker

4/12/2020 05:56:08 am

Khorram’s coming of age story Darius the Great Is Not Okay provides many examples of melodrama. Unlike Twilight Saga and Jane Eyre, Darius melodrama is not exclusively romantic. In her article Kapurch points out that melodrama requires self-doubt and both Bella and Jane experience self-doubt when they are separated from their romantic male counterpart (167). Darius, however, feels inferior throughout the novel, particularly inferior compared to the (imagined) expectations his father places on him. Although Darius’ relationship with Sohrab is integral to Darius’ development, it’s his relationship with his father where most of the melodrama arises. Take the climactic scene in “First, Best Destiny” for example. Darius’ self-doubt begins to worsen after Sohrab’s rejection, which is in line with Kapurch’s argument, but the highest point of Darius’ feelings of inferiority comes when arguing with his father. Just like Jane compares herself to the supposedly prettier Blanche Ingram, Darius compares himself to his father and resents his father for it: “‘Sorry for disappointing you…. No, you just want me to be like you” (283). Although Darius isn’t really apologizing for who he is, he attributes his feelings of being “not good enough” to his relationship with his father. The tension between father and son is the ultimate source of melodrama throughout the novel because it is the main form suffering. It’s resolution also leads to the all-important happy ending (Kapurch 170). Undoubtedly, readers feel relief and happiness when Darius and Sohrab make peace, but the final resolution involves Darius regaining Star Trek time and gaining nightly tea with his dad. The worry, misunderstanding, and perhaps toxic masculinity, that previously separated father and son have been lifted, which is not so very different than how the societal and emotional complexities between Bella and Edward and Jane and Rochester resolved themselves.
Although Kapurch’s article explores YA melodrama in two female-male romances, the same principles can be applied to Darius the Great Is Not Okay. I would argue that the main source of melodrama is between Darius and his dad, but, as I hinted too, the melodrama between Darius and Sohrab are essential as well. I would like to read a sequel to Darius the Great Is Not Okay where Darius and Sohrab’s love took center-stage and see how that changes the focus of the melodrama.

Gabrielle Boutin

4/12/2020 07:32:49 am

This week I read Darius the Great is Not Okay. I really enjoyed this book because I feel that it is a great coming of age story. I think it did a great job of following the journey of Darius as he is growing up and dealing with the hormones and emotions that come with growing up. Darius also struggles with depression and the book did an amazing job at explaining how depression is a silent struggle that can affect anybody. Throughout the story I focused on the trail of depression that ran through the story line. My sister has depression and it started at the end of middle school. My parents had never been exposed to any kind of mental illness (or they had and they didn’t know what it was) and they just thought that my sister was being dramatic. Being inside Darius’s head reminded me of what my sister went through at his age. She was depressed but felt guilty/ashamed for being depressed because nothing tragic or traumatic had ever happened to her. Darius felt the same way! Whenever he had to explain it to someone, he was always waiting for their judgement and they usually always asked him, “Why do you have depression? What happened to you?”. Darius’s story shows readers that depression is a lot more complicated than just being sad. It does an amazing job at battling the stigma that surrounds depression. I think the secrets that Darius and his father also illustrate that silent struggle that they go through with their depression. Stephen (the father) seemed picture perfect to Darius on the outside but it was revealed to Darius that when Darius was younger, his father was on the verge of killing himself. And that his battle with depression took him away from his family emotionally. I think the thread of depression throughout the story illustrates how complicated depression is and how you never really know what someone is going through until you ask.

Caroline Keenan

4/12/2020 01:02:01 pm

Hi Gabby!

This week I read "Mondays Not Coming" in this novel also there was a coming of age. Just Like Darius experiencing homelessness one of the characters in "Mondays Not Coming" Monday is experience abuse in her household. Also in this novel the main narrator character experiences post traumatic stress after reliving an experience that she would never forget. I think it is very interesting in how both of these novels the characters experience their coming of age and then mental health problem trail. Both of these novels touch upon physical changes and mental health disorders which then leads us to understand the character better. I really like how you pointed out Darius loosing his connection to his family because they couldn't understand his depression. This type of scenerio shows the struggles children face when their family is unable to stand them and just brushes them off. Claudias family knew that she was in search for Monday but would always tell her to stop worrying Monday was just busy. Even small comments like those show how sometimes family doesn't understand everyone.

Megan Shaughnessy

4/12/2020 07:41:30 am

Tiffany Jackson's novel "Monday's Not Coming" uses a nonlinear narrative that keeps readers on their toes, always searching for answers or clues. While this novel follows the character of Claudia Coleman it also follows the relationships adolescents have with authority. Jackson reveals the realities for young adolescents in middle school, the coming of age, tragedy, mystery, but also highlighting the lack of attention by authorities. Throughout the entire novel, Claudia is continuously reaching out to power for help to her mom, dad, principal, teachers, nurse, police, detectives, and Monday's parents who never seem to care too much what Claudia has to say. Monday, her best friend was missing and no one was giving it any attention so she tried to bring people's attention to it. The detective did not take Claudia seriously, Mr. Hill did not take her seriously, social workers did not take it seriously, and so many others in authority paid no mind to what a young child was saying. Jackson brings to light the lack of attention by authority; those who are supposed to check in with students, check-in on their well-being were completely checked out. While this book brings to light the lack of voice adolescents feels on a day to day basis, it also brings to light the realities of authoritative figures, "at least eight District of Columbia's Child and Family Services Agency workers will be fired for failing to properly address the welfare of Monday and August Charles" (Jackson). April did not want to speak out to authorities about what was going on in her home because authoritative people were the ones giving her families suffering no mind, kicking them out on the street, and disregarding all the concerns others had. But Jackson also brings to light the huge role teachers can play in education and in their students lives. Ms. Valente "was good peoples. I trusted her" (Jackson) in Claudia's eyes. There were so many occasions where Ms. Valente saved Claudia, in the bathroom, in the cafeteria, etc. Jackson chooses to show this tension with the relationship between adolescents and authority but also giving contrast to that with Claudia's relationship with Ms. Valente. A quote from Jackson in her acknowledgement section states, "Lastly, to missing children of color, we have not forgotten about you. We will continue to fight and give you a voice. You matter." Again this reiterates the novel's theme in exploring adolescents' relationship to authority in that children's voices are not heard. But when she states, "we," I feel like it is to represent those characters that hold strong throughout all functions of melodrama, who hold strong for students and hold the strength, so many teachers have and the influence they can have on students' lives. Claudia was the only one who "never stop[ped] looking for her. Never." (Jackson). Adolescents and students have voices that need to be heard because sometimes they are the only ones who actually care. Kapurch brings to light how melodramas "works toward the project of recognizing the emotional lives and cultural preferences of youth" (166), which in Jackson's case is to recognize the emotional lives and cultural preferences the youth has to make with always having their voices suppressed.

Olivia Leonard

4/12/2020 09:00:20 am

I too was in the group that read Darius the Great is Not OK. As many of my classmates have stated, this book centers around Darius who is dealing with depression and struggles with feeling accepted. He is half-Persian but often feels inadequate next to his family. He also gets bullies often in school which leaves him friendless and lonely. It is not until his family travels to Iran to visit their dying grandfather that Darius meets his first true friend, Sohrab. Sohrab immediately accepts Darius for everything he is and is constantly making an effort to include him. Darius has struggled with meaningful relationships up until he meets Sohrab. Darius also does not have a close relationship with his father. He often feels like he is a disappointment to his dad. It is not until the end of the novel when Darius and Sohrab get into an argument that his father sits down and has an open conversation with Darius. Things are revealed in that conversation that change Darius’s perception of his father. His father has always been proud but he too struggles with mental illness and it affects him in different ways. I think this book did a great job not only discussing the many ways depression can make someone think/feel but also how it can complicate relationships. These are two very real things that many young adults can relate to. A reader dealing with depression could benefit from reading Darius’s inner monologues/thoughts because they show that maybe what they are thinking are similar to what he had been. That alone could make a reader realize they are not alone and that depression is not something to be ashamed about. I just felt as I was reading that this novel is so relatable and that Darius is like so many kids trying to find his way and feel accepted in a world that is not always so accepting. I also thought the article was really interesting and did an exceptional job comparing the Twilight Series to Jane Eyre. One of the sections that resonated with me in regards to Darius the Great is Not OK was when Katie Kapurch spoke of “coming-of-age anxiety”. She specifically talks about how both Bella and Jane have their anxieties presented through nightmares but I think Darius has them through daydreams. He is constantly in his head and is also “consumed with habitual self-doubt and self-consciousness” just as Bella and Jane are (Kapurch 174). I would say that Darius the Great is Not OK should definitely be considered a coming of age story because he is trying to find his place and feel comfortable in his own skin which so many other YA readers can relate to.

Shaun Ramsay

4/13/2020 08:20:09 am

Hi Olivia, I ended up reading both Monday is Not Coming, and Darius is not OK, and I really appreciated Darius The Great's representation of depression. I thought having the family go to Iran, where conversation about mental health just isn't as active was a great place to further talk about the subject. This book is certainly great for those struggling with depression, to feel they are not alone, but I also really liked that they portrayed taking medication as normal. Especially having the father also struggle with this invisible illness and Darius not really see that in him, it shows that people facing depression are fighting these battles no one else can really see. I never took medication for depression, but when I took medicine for ADHD growing up, I always felt freakish, like I was the only one in the world having to take pills to be "normal." I don't see the representation for people taking medication for mental disorders all that much in young adult literature; I can't wait until we talk about Little and Lion in a few weeks

Megan Shaughnessy

4/13/2020 09:17:22 am

Oliva,
While I read Mondays Not Coming I can see the simaliarites in both of the novels. You talk about slef-doubt and self-consciousness thats constantly happening with Darius that I also see in Claudia. I find it interesting how the authors are showing what gones on in their heads because those are the thoughts students are always keeping to themselves. I feel like both of these novels show how important it is to talk and let others know how your feeling. Did you get a glips into the fathers head before the talk or did you not know anything until after? I feel like it could be hugely benifical to show what's going on in the head of the child but also the thoughts of authority becasuse adolesents stress and worry, but so do adults, so do principles and I feel like sometimes that can get forgotten. I know when I was younger I was oblivious to the stress and pressure my own mother was under every day.

Colby Nilsen

4/12/2020 09:00:39 am

The Adolescent struggle as “The Other”.

Many teens feel like they may not fit in anywhere, whether it be in school, platonic and romantic relationships, or even familial matters. In Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorraam, Darius is symbolic of “the other”. He not only does not have many friends in school, he feels like the black sheep of his family. He feels is not quite “Persian” enough, or at least not as much as his sister who speaks Farsi unlike him. It is ironic he does not feel “Persian enough”, for he is bullied and called a terrorist. Khorram highlights the very real struggle of post 9/11 Middle-Eastern students in America being called terrorist and further signifies him as “the other”, for he is put down for a culture that he has nothing to do with, such as many Middle Eastern students who actually come from the Middle East being called terrorists when they have nothing to do with that terrorist culture, or even students of Middle Eastern descent who were born in America such as Darius. That is what his dad does not understand, he only understands that he is bullied and wont stand up for himself. But what can he say? He will only be subject to more ridicule from verbal abuse, for it is noted the schools do not do much unless it can be proven. However, Darius’s dad seems to be further disappointed because he is imperfect himself, and having a son who is struggling makes him feel second hand embarrassed and most of all scared. It upsets him that his son is bullied and depressed, and is in fact “the other”. We find at the end that Stephen Keller himself had long hair like Darius, (symbolic of their similarities) and that in beginning stages of his fatherhood and almost killed himself. He is scared that Darius would inflict self-harm and believes that Darius acting “normal” will perhaps save him from a humiliation so bad that he would commit to such harm. However, he comes to realize that treating Darius as “the other” only further isolates him, and his methods are detrimental to his purpose, which is an idea many parents can take from this book. This book ultimately ends in a traditional young adult book fashion with him reconciling his differences and from being “the other” claims his own identity of being himself totally, such as Sohrab tells him that this is what he is loved by him for, something he desperately needed to hear.

Hannah Brodeur

4/12/2020 10:02:48 am

Hi Colby! I think your description of Darius can relate greatly to Claudia in the text “Monday’s Not Coming”. Through the novel it is clear Claudia has trouble finding her place and fitting in. Especially once her best friend Monday has died. However, the reader really sees this in one instance where Claudia’s mother had just lost a baby. Claudia thinks to herself “Maybe I wasn’t good enough. Maybe they wanted a better version of me- a version that could read and write with no problems”. She experiences the sense of the “other” as well in her family and in class. There is further the relationship between Darius and Claudia as well as Monday. Darius is bullied around his school and told he is a “terrorist” just as they are both titled “sluts” or “lesbians”. All of these characters experience these labels that have a massive impact on their life. The description you describe of the relationship Darius has with his father is extremely interesting. It seems that his father does not want his son to react in this way because he knows these emotions all too well. He wants his son to live a better life than he did. And when it seems his son is not, he is upset. Lastly, the idea of a disconnect between the school and what is occurring physically in the school is a similar theme in “Monday’s Not Coming”. The reader sees Monday come to school, visibly shaken and out of it. She also continues to check out books with main characters who have been sexually abused. However, she can never be helped. My questions for you would be what do you believe truly helped Darius find himself? Also, do you believe he can fully escape the sense of “the other” title? And do you believe this encompasses a “coming of age” text?

Becky Tynan

4/12/2020 11:39:14 am

Hi Colby I like that you used the term the "other" I think usually when I think of the other I think of it in the lines of colonialist novels where the threat is the cultural other. But in both of these texts from what I've read of others responses the other is present. In Monday's Not Coming there is an other and it is the people who the unjust systems I the text work against, who they oppress and in that way almost all of the characters are an other- Claudia for her dyslexia, Monday as a poor child growing up abused, Monday's mother as a single and abusive parent, and Claudia's mother who struggles with fertility, all of these women of color I society wresting with expectations of womanhood and being cast out for there differences- some of them cast out as an other for a good reason but all to show the other as misunderstood and possible as threats to the society that we want to believe we have built/are building. Like Claudia's dyslexia as an example from my list, her diagnosis sets her apart from classmates and threatens her bubble, the one where she hides and feels safe. Her possible and eventual diagnosis the was a threat to Claudias home life and the perception her parents had of her. Great job.

Hannah Brodeur

4/12/2020 09:43:28 am

Young adult literature has an immense amount of power on the reader. The novel “Monday’s Not Coming Home” is no exception. Tiffany Jackson created a text that highlights so many important themes and ideas through the characters. The text takes place in three separate times, before, one year before Monday’s death, and after. Therefore, the reader is able to see the characters and themes play out over an extensive amount of time. The novel clearly follows the line of a “coming of age text”. Claudia experiences so much distress and anxiety throughout the course of the book. The reader clearly sees her attempting to deal with the pain and loss of her best friend. However, the section of the text that displays so much about her as a character is when Monday is still alive. Claudia and Monday depend on one another. This is clear as Claudia informs Monday of a hardship her family is experiencing and Monday comforts her as she rubs her back and tells her “it’s okay”. They view each other as allies in school as they experience other students bullying them. This touches on so many themes involved in the “coming of age text”. For instance, the reader is able to see not only a friendship but a friendship that is attempting to upstand bullying. Claudia cannot experience school without her best friend. It is very clear she is dependent on her.
However, not only is this theme displayed through Claudia’s friendship with Monday but also her experience in school after she is gone. Claudia experiences an immense amount of bullying after she loses her best friend. One instance, where this idea is displayed is through her trouble in school. Claudia is asked to join The Learning Center as she begins to struggle. Once she starts attending meetings all the students around her make fun of her for going. Therefore, the reader sees another theme of “coming of age” through Claudia. It is evident the reader not only sees her attempting to adapt and learn based on her situation but doing so when individuals are bullying her. These are themes that all students experience while they are in school.
Lastly, the theme of “coming of age” is shown through Monday herself as well. The reader has a limited amount of interaction with Monday herself because it is split up in so many different parts. However, the situations we are presented tell so much about who she is as a character. The reader very clearly sees Monday struggle. For instance, one day “she carried on like a zombie, shuffling through the halls, blindly bumping into people, sitting motionless in classes, not even bothering to lift a pencil” (Jackson 180). Monday is experiencing some sort of trauma in her life. There is something clearly bothering or hurting her that is affecting her mood. However, unless someone tried to help and see how she was doing no one would know. This theme of not truly knowing what is happening in another person’s life is something the reader sees throughout the novel. Monday is Claudia’s best friend and she did not know the extent of her home life and what she goes through. The relationship the reader feels with the characters is something Katie Kepurch discusses through the article “Unconditionally and Irrevocably” as she describes “the representation of adolescents in fiction and the very real, affective, and empathetic responses shared by readers”. We are able to really feel the emotion that these characters are experiencing. “Monday’s Not Coming” is truly a “coming of age” text that is able to connect to the reader through its use of characterization.

Savannah Resendes

4/12/2020 10:23:09 am

Hi Hannah! I had read Darius the Great is Not okay this week, and I could say comparably that both of these novels are coming of age stories. Darius is dealing with bullying in school and trying to figure himself out all throughout the story, to find his missing place, as his friend Sohrab points out to him in a few of the chapters. It seems that both characters are learning to deal with their emotions as well as Darius is clinically depressed, and he is learning how to come to terms with dealing with his emotions in a healthy way. My question for you is, do you think this would be a good text to bring into school and teach students about trauma, dealing with emotions and bullying. It seems that both of these novels have same similar underlying themes to them, and with the absence of a teaching discussion this week, it makes me think of ways to bring it into the classroom.

Hannah Brodeur

4/12/2020 08:19:54 pm

Hi Savannah!

I can definitely agree that both of these texts are coming of age stories. It is clear that Darius goes through many emotional situations, similar to Claudia and Monday. However, what Darius goes through is different, it still brings the same emotions of pain. I believe this would be a good text to bring into the classroom, however in the right context. What would worry me about it is the element of trauma in the text. I do not want to evoke any emotions in students who have experienced trauma that would negatively affect them. Therefore, if I were to bring this novel into the classroom I would need to have an extensive amount of emotional support. I do believe that this text could benefit students as they read about these characters and are emerged in the plot. They could make connections and produce thoughtful ideas about the text. Therefore, I would make sure to have reflection journals that students will write in frequently. I can monitor where students are while reading as well as how they are feeling. Another activity I could do that could help the emotional support while reading the novel would be to have partner or group work while reading. This way students could have individuals around them, discussing directly with them so they don't feel alone. I think it would be a great read for students. I would also possibly think about pairing it with another text. A novel that has similar themes that could help break up the text for students.

Caroline Keenan

4/12/2020 12:43:35 pm

In the novel "Modays Not Coming" by Tiffany Jackson we are subjected to many topics regarding race, mental illness, friendships, and bullying. This novel is narrated by a character named Claudia who had lost her best friend Monday. No one seemed to notice or care about Mondays dissaperance but her, Claudia cared so much and was trying to find Monday for so long util she realized that she had a disorder where she was reliving her experiences Monday had actually been dead for two years.
One major theme in this novel that really stuck out to me was the loss of innocence that was presented throughout the characters Claudia and Monday. This loss of innocence can relate to Claudias and Mondays coming of age because they both come to terms with the real World between the ages of 13-16. Claudia has been searching for Monday, worrying sick about her until she finds out that one of her best friends has been killed. Monday on the other hand has had to deal with an abusive parent and aggressive behaviors that no child should have to deal with between these ages which also represents her loss of innocence. Claudia really matures throughout this whole situations and never gives up despite what people say when wanting to find her friend. She may be ok but Claudia must know that she is ok so she will do everything it takes to get there. I found this theme to be very important because it relates to the overall theme of the novel. If Claudia was trapped in an innocent state would she of kept pushing forward to find Monday or would she of listened to what everyone else had to say and just wait for Monday to respond to her.
The loss of innocence in this novel seemed to have a huge impact on Claudias life it took quite a toll on her mental health. She ended up with post traumatic stress where she would relive this situation over and over again. It wasn't until the end of the novel that we found out about this and the Monday had actually been dead for two years now. Loss of innocence at a young age can be very traumatizing. Having to deal with your friends death between the ages of 13-16 is something no child should ever have to deal with they do not have the coping mechanisms to be able to deal with this. I definitely think this book would be more well suited to read in senior english class or in a criminal justice class. Thinking about it this book might be hard to teach in a regular class because it can have a lot of trigger warnings.

Shaun Ramsay

4/13/2020 07:06:14 am

This week I read Monday’s Not Coming, in reading the discussion board prompt I thought more about the idea of melodrama in this book. When I think of Melodrama, I think of heroes and villains typically and sometimes happy endings. This novel certainly ends hopeful for Claudia, but is it really a happy ending when her best friend is gone forever. Claudia is certainly the hero of this novel, doing almost all of the leg work to discover the truth about what happened to Monday, and she has very little allies along the way. One of the only figures to Claudia is her old teacher, Ms. Valente, she advocates for Claudia when trying to get administration to take Monday’s missing seriously and calls social services to check in on Monday’s home. Ms. Valente would certainly be a hero for taking these actions, but when it comes to villains I feel it is more complicated. While reading it I viewed Monday’s mother and to a certain extent the sister as villains; they were clearly hiding something sinister and they were antagonists to our hero Claudia. Beyond these antagonists, there is a greater invisible villain. The police would not take Claudia seriously when she came to them for help, they outright embarrassed her for thinking her friend was different than a girl that ran away. The teachers and school administration are very passive, they know the problems in Monday’s home but no one takes her missing seriously, even when prompted by Claudia. It is only when Ms. Valente advocates for Claudia that we see administration start to do their job. Throughout the entire novel we have the residents of Ed Borough, like Monday’s family, fighting to keep their homes as the city wants them to disappear. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that this novel is set in Washington D.C., America’s capital; on almost every level the system of this city, representative of the nation, failed Claudia and Monday. Systemic negligence, and certainly racism, doomed them from the start. The great villain in this melodrama is “the system” that works for us, that doesn’t work for others, and only too little too late do we realize it. For all the missing girls, acknowledged by the police officer, the only time anything breaks news is when they are found brutally murdered.

Samantha Colon

4/16/2020 12:31:06 pm

The novel I was assigned to read for this week was Adib Khorram’s Darius the Great is Not Okay. Khorram’s novel focuses on the story of a young man Darius and his journey through life. This novel focuses on a variety of themes and issues from depression, family, and the incompleteness/sense of belonging which is seen through Darius not feeling at place in his own home and life. What’s interesting about this piece is how Khorram acknowledges clinical depression through his character and how it affects his identity while also being able to tie into the role our surroundings play and how they impact ones self. For example, Darius is depressed and doesn’t feel he belongs and out of place while he’s bullied at school, struggles at home, and has no sense of his own identity and how he is seen ion society. The story focuses on the trip Darius and his family take to Iran where Darius gets both a change of scenery and this new surrounding acts as an answer to Darius to answer his identity crisis. On this trip Darius is exposed to new things either new friendships or even his own family. He learns more about his own family heritage and is able to really find himself and feel more comfortable in his own skin rather questioning if he fits in to his own culture. In a way this story reminds me of the character Ichiro from the book No No Boy because like Darius, Ichiro goes through depression and shares a lack of connection and identity with his Japanese (home) roots. Overall, Darius is shaped by this trip and it allows his to have more confidence in his decisions and his connection with his own culture and self.

Darius the Great is not Coming Monday

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