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
Arks himself was a star football player as a young man. A picture of him in the prime of his career hangs in the local pub. According to some of the older residents of the town, Arks returned to town to be both team captain and coach.
Arks’s enduring reputation as a football star emphasizes how important football is to Blacky’s community, thus increasing the sense of duty Blacky struggles with.
Themes
Arks calls Blacky and tells him to come to the football oval after school and practice rucking. Blacky wonders if it’s too late to practice and whether he should ask his mom first. Arks says it’s fine and he will see Blacky soon.
Blacky attempts to avoid his responsibility to his coach and team. Arks’s objection shows how an individual’s wishes are considered inferior to the greater good of the team, a subservience Blacky comes to resent.
Themes
