Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Deadly, Unna?, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Race, Injustice, and Action
Courage and Masculinity
Duty and Sacrifice
Teamwork and Family
Summary
Analysis
A few months before, Blacky, Team-man, and their father were out on the boat fishing. Blacky likes the boat because although it is old, it has lots of character, like his neighbor, Darcy. Blacky’s father doesn’t know much about sailing or the ocean, because he grew up in a city instead of in the Port. He usually goes fishing with his more experienced partner, Mick, but Mick is unable to come that day.
Blacky intellectualizes the act of fishing because he takes comfort in understanding his world through an intellectual lens. Blacky’s father’s failure as a fisherman is one of the many ways he fails to fulfill his duty as a father, in this case by not providing for his family financially.
Themes
Team-man tricks Blacky into thinking there are sharks in the water. Then they see dolphins swimming in the ocean. Blacky interprets this as a sign it’ll be a great day. Their father asks Blacky if he’s finished preparing the bait. Blacky describes his father as big, but not strong, always wearing overalls and sporting uncombed hair. His father tells Team-man to untangle the fishing lines.
Team-man points out Blacky’s anxious nature, a shameful trait for a man in their community. However, Blacky finds aspects of his environment to enjoy. This creates a cheerful mood that will contrast with the chaos and fear of the following scenes on the boat.
Themes
Blacky remarks that his father (whom he calls “the old man”) is in a good mood; he can tell because his father addressed him by his first name. Blacky usually doesn’t like fishing because his father is usually angry when he’s fishing. Blacky thinks this is because the lines are always tangled, especially when Blacky handles them. The knots only get worse as Blacky gets anxious and his father gets frustrated. His father brings him along anyway though, because they seem to magically catch more fish when Blacky is there.
Nicknames in the novel are a way of characters distancing themselves from each other, as shown by Blacky calling his father “the old man” or his brother, “Team-man” or by his father using Blacky’s real name only when they are getting along. Fear of his father’s anger is a major factor Blacky will struggle with as the novel progresses.
Themes
Blacky and Team-man discuss how tourists in town eat squid, whereas locals only use squid for bait. The boat passes over a reef, a place where they expect to catch a lot of fish. All three of them drop their lines in the water, but they don’t catch anything. They try again and again, but still they don’t catch any fish. The old man begins drinking. Their boat drifts west. Blacky can tell that a storm is coming because of what he’s heard in Darcy’s stories, but both he and Team-man are afraid to upset the old man with the news.
Blacky and Team-man’s conversation about squid reveals the class differences they must struggle with in larger Australian society. The old man’s drinking is a bad sign because of his issues with alcohol, though it’s also a normal part of being a man in their town. The storm brewing off in the distance not only represents a tangible threat to Blacky but represents the storm of his father’s anger approaching.
Themes
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The old man discovers another reef. Team-man and Blacky throw their lines over and both catch large snappers. They begin catching more and more fish, with the old man helping Blacky reel in the bigger ones. When they finally pause, they notice the sky has turned black with the coming storm. Blacky suggests they go back to shore, but the old man insists they keep fishing.
The abundance of fish and the men’s happiness over it will contrast with the coming fear and anger when the storm hits. Here, Blacky’s father exposes one of his major flaws: his inability to quit and his valuing of fishing success over the safety and happiness of his family.
Themes
Blacky silently begs the fish to stop biting. Eventually, he starts pulling in fish half-eaten by sharks and the old man decides they can go back to shore. Blacky is increasingly worried about the storm. His father continues drinking and scolds Blacky for worrying. Exhausted from fishing, Blacky falls asleep below deck and has a nightmare about vengeful fish below him.
Blacky cannot express his legitimate worries about the storm because of his father’s expectations of bravery. This shows the illogical and dangerous side of Blacky’s father’s and the community’s expectation that boys should be completely without fear.
Themes
Blacky wakes up when the boat, rocking violently on the waves, throws him to the floor. Team-man has thrown up from motion sickness. It’s dark outside and neither boy knows where they are. Blacky checks the time and realizes six hours have passed since they started sailing home. Blacky goes up to the deck. Huge waves crash over the side of the boat. He finds his father still steering the boat. The old man is smiling like he is enjoying the challenge of the storm.
The old man embodies the illogical, reckless courage expected of men in Blacky’s community. The darkness and violence of the waves emphasizes Blacky’s understandable fear in contrast to his father’s disturbing enjoyment. All of this creates a tense atmosphere for the following confrontation between the two characters.
Themes
Blacky asks the old man where they are. The old man refuses to answer him and gestures for him to go back down below deck. The rocking boat continues to throw them back and forth. Blacky starts crying and shouts that the old man must be trying to kill them. The old man grabs him by the shirt, swears at him, and tells him to go back to the cabin below. Blacky goes back down below. He sits with the still sick Team-man, believing they are going to die.
By crying and begging his father, Blacky completely violates the expectations of total courage placed upon men in his community. This violation explains his father’s angry and violent reaction. Blacky’s certainty they are going to die explains the lasting trauma of the memory on his character.
Themes
Somehow, Blacky falls asleep. When he wakes up, the storm has passed and the boat is almost home. His father doesn’t speak as they moor the boat and begin driving home. Finally, the old man says that he never wants Blacky to come on the boat again. He can’t believe that his son is a “gutless wonder.” Blacky feels the most intense shame of his life. He has not been near the boat since that day.
Blacky’s intense shame regarding his fearful actions on that day and his father’s furious reaction is a major motivation for his character moving forward into the grand final, as he will later mention that he wants his father to see that he’s not a “gutless wonder” after all.
Themes
