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
Blacky wakes up excited to go see Cathy on the jetty. He knows he has a big crush on her. He hurries to eat his breakfast and finish his chores so he can go see her. The jetty is crowded that day. Little kids are learning to swim and campers are fishing off the jetty. The campers discuss how Darcy’s bait is better than the bait Pickles sells. Blacky spots his local friends, Pickles, Mark, Deano, and Dazza, and then spots the McDermott boys and Cathy with them. The locals are wearing sports shorts and the campers are wearing bathing suits.
Blacky’s concerns have shifted far away from the larger issue of racism and toward the more lighthearted teenage concerns of friends and dating. This shows how smaller distractions can easily derail even worthy goals like Blacky’s desire to challenge the town’s prejudices. The difference in swimming attire between the locals and the campers shows their economic differences.
Themes
Feeling overwhelmed by his attraction to Cathy, Blacky approaches the group of young people But he’s too afraid to put his towel down next to Cathy, so he settles down next to Pickles. He stays there for the rest of the day, watching Cathy. She doesn’t talk much, except to the McDermott boys. Blacky can’t stop thinking about how perfect she is.
Even after the grand final, Blacky still struggles to overcome his fears, perhaps because he didn’t genuinely practice courage in the game. Blacky still tries to live up to his town’s impossible standards of masculinity and feels like a failure when he can’t.
Themes
