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Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Outcasts United, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Refugees, Discrimination, and Resilience
Community and Teamwork vs. Division
Leadership and Respect
Discipline, Dedication, and Success
Summary
Analysis
The field at Indian Creek can’t be used for league games, so the Fugees host home matches at a field fifteen minutes away by car. Luma gets a YMCA bus to transport her players, but if they are late to meet her, they will be left behind. The Under Fifteens’ first regular-season game is against a team called the Phoenix from a mostly white, middle- and upper-class town. Their sideline is full of parents, siblings, and friends. The Fugees sideline is empty.
The contrast between the two teams’ sidelines emphasizes just how much the players on the Fugees need each other. Because their parents are often working or taking care of other kids, they rely on each other, and Luma, for a sense of community and support that kids on other teams automatically have.
Themes
When Luma meets the bus at the field, only nine players have shown up—two short of a full team. Mandela is on the bus, but Fornatee isn’t. Mandela is frustrated that his friends didn’t come and asks St. John if he would drive him to pick up Fornatee and two other teammates. St. John agrees with permission from Tracy, and they return five minutes before the game with the three players in the backseat.
The boys missing the bus is exactly the kind of lack of discipline that infuriates Luma, which is what prompts her to not coach them. But the fact that some of the boys are willing to go above and beyond to try and make the team work also illustrates that some members of the team are exceptionally dedicated to it.
Themes
The boys join the warmups, but Luma stands off to the side, giving no instructions. Kanue Biah, a veteran member of the team, realizes how angry she is. He had bought into her system more than most other players, and he tries to take charge of the team and rally them to play a good game. But minutes into the game, the Fugees are called for a foul and a penalty, and are quickly losing 2-0.
Luma responds to her players’ lack of dedication with her own lack of dedication, quickly providing a lesson as to what happens when the boys don’t care about the team. Not showing up on time to practice not only demonstrates a lack of respect for Luma, but it also directly leads to their losing the game.
Themes
Mandela is angry and determined to take a shot without help. He wrestles past the other team’s defense and scores, but the Phoenix respond minutes later: 3-1. Just before halftime, Fornatee tries to take a shot, but it is blocked by the Phoenix goalie. Fornatee fumes to his teammates at half-time, frustrated that Luma isn’t doing her job. He says that they have to play for themselves—that Luma can’t play for them. He rallies his teammates, saying that they can win, and leads them in a chant, “Go Fugees!”
This game, at its core, is a demonstration of what happens when the boys let go of all of the values Luma is trying to instill in them, which amounts to a huge lack of respect for her. It is also hypocritical that Fornatee is frustrated Luma isn’t doing her job, when he wasn’t even planning on showing up for the game.
Themes
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Minutes into the second half, the Phoenix score. The Fugees yell at each other, and Fornatee curses at the referee, getting himself ejected from the game. The Phoenix continue to score, the Fugees are lost without Luma, and the game ends 7-2. After the game, Luma calls to them to get back on the bus.
The Fugees’ performance in the second half is no better than the first. Instead of working as a team, they are divided. Rather than playing with control, they are wild and acting out.
Themes
Luma tells St. John the issues: the boys show up to tutoring late, they’re disrespectful, they don’t show up on time for games, and they don’t arrive dressed for practice. Luma says that she wanted to behave the way that they are behaving. She explains that they don’t have the discipline to succeed without her, and she can’t be responsible for them anymore. When she climbs on the bus, she announces to her players that she has decided to cancel the Under Fifteens’ season.
Luma’s own performance during the game is another leadership strategy. She wants to prove to the boys what happens when they don’t respect her, and her leadership goes away. They recognize quickly that this amounts to the chapter’s title: a meltdown.
Themes
