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Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
Jean Luc Picard
To Darius, Captain Jen Luc Picard is the greatest Star Trek captain because he manages to come across as tough and capable despite not having traditionally masculine traits. Picard is intelligent, loves hot Earl Grey tea, has a British accent and a deep, resounding voice, and is confident enough to run an entire starship. Darius, a fervent tea afficionado who lacks traditionally masculine traits (particularly in comparison with his ultra-masculine dad, Stephen), admires Captain Picard and strives to emulate him. Darius wishes he could be confident and secure despite his quirky combination of traits, as Captain Picard is. Darius loves that Picard can pull off the Übermensch identity despite his balding, and he has nicknamed receding hairlines the "Picard Crescent" as a result. Watching Star Trek is a ritual Darius shares with his father because he feels that they have nothing else in common, and Captain Picard proves, in many ways, a pseudo-surrogate father for Darius to look up to throughout the novel.
Stephen Kellner's Audi
Darius sees his father as the Übermensch, a perfect species of man who does everything right. He’s the prototypical blond, blue-eyed, physically fit German male, and his fast, luxurious German car, an Audi, is a fitting representation of that identity. Darius’s admiration of his dad’s car, which symbolizes the strength and intensity of Stephen himself, is a subconscious rejection of his own more subtle, gentle nature. Just as Darius’s character contrasts with Stephen’s, so does his appearance. Darius has thick, dark, curly hair and carries a little extra body weight. He feels he’s the opposite of an alpha male. Stephen, by contrast, operates his Audi like a starship, accelerating and stopping around turns. Once his bike becomes useless, Darius spends a lot more time with his dad in the Audi, where he feels uncomfortable and out of place. When they’re in the Audi together, Darius is forced to spend time in Stephen’s world where Stephen is captain, and given that Darius is maturing into young adulthood and needs space to develop his own identity, he finds it increasingly difficult to be comfortable in his father’s environment.
The Kellner & Newton Messenger Bag
The Kellner & Newton Messenger Bag that Darius is forced to bring on the trip to Iran symbolizes the new stage of the parent-child relationship between Stephen and Darius. When his backpack rips, Darius begrudgingly accepts the messenger bag that bears his dad’s business’s name, Kellner & Newton, emblazoned across the front. Like hanging out with his father, the bag is uncomfortable and hard to balance at first. Darius has a tough time squeezing all of his stuff into the bag to use as carry-on luggage, reflecting the incompatibility he feels with his father. Yet the bag’s logo ends up saving Darius when he’s in an interrogation room in Tehran. By the end of the trip, Darius easily maneuvers the bag, slinging it over his shoulder effortlessly and choosing to use it at school in the U.S. even after Shirin offers to buy him a new backpack. The bag, he says, has "gone to Mordor and back with him," and serves as a symbol of the transformation in his relationship with his father.
