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 remembers a time far in the past when he was babysitting his younger brother, Greggy. Greggy was coloring in a picture while Blacky watched cricket on TV. When Greggy showed Blacky the picture, it was only one color. Everything in the picture was grey. In the present day, Blacky believes that everything after Dumby’s death looks like Greggy’s picture. Everything inside and outside of Blacky feels grey and heavy.
Greyness not only represents Blacky’s sadness but also characterizes Blacky’s shifting perspective. Whereas before he identified clear black and white categories (the Port and the Point, white and indigenous, good and bad) he now sees how complicated the grey areas of his society actually are.
Themes
