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
Mum tells Blacky that she’s worried about him because he hasn’t left the house in days. She suggests that they go to the doctor, but Blacky doesn’t know how he’ll explain the greyness of his vision and feelings to the doctor.
Blacky cannot express his grief because not only is a boy in his community not supposed to show emotions, as a white person he’s not expected to grieve over an indigenous person.
Themes
Blacky reads the story of the shooting in the local newspaper. The paper reports that Big Mac has left town as tensions increase between the Port and the Point. Blacky also reads that Dumby’s funeral will be on Sunday in the Point. Blacky tells his mother that he wants to attend Dumby’s funeral. His mother is sympathetic, but she says that Blacky probably wouldn’t be welcome at a funeral in the Point so he should just stay away.
Blacky’s mother’s response to his request shows that even kind and caring individuals struggle to overcome the racial barriers of their community. Mum herself presents the first obstacle Blacky must overcome in order to make the decision to pay his respects to his friend.
Themes
Blacky goes to see Arks, who has lost a lot of business since the people from the Point stopped coming to town. Blacky mentions the time of Dumby’s funeral. Arks reminisces about how talented a football player Dumby was. Blacky asks if the football team is going to do anything for Dumby’s funeral. Arks says that what happened to Dumby is completely different from football and they shouldn’t get involved.
Arks’s dismissal of Blacky’s idea shows how a team can fail to support its members by letting larger societal issues such as racism take over. Notably, Arks used to speak about how football was more than a game and the team had a responsibility to each other and the town. His attitude here, however, shows how “team” can become an empty word.
Themes
Arks tries to speak with Blacky about the next football season, but Blacky storms out in anger. He knows there won’t be a football team next year because the Point players won’t play for the Port team after the shooting.
The connection between the Point and the Port over football here proves to be a shallow connection that can be broken by the larger racial tensions between the communities. Again, a team is only as strong as its members’ genuine sense of responsibility toward each other.
Themes
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Blacky finds Dazza and Pickles sitting in the jetty shelter. The graffiti that reads “boongs piss off” is still up on the wall. Blacky suggests to them that they should do something for Dumby’s funeral. Pickles says that his father said Dumby got what he deserved for committing armed robbery. Dazza agrees. Blacky shakes his head and walks away.
Blacky’s mention of the graffiti foreshadows how Dumby’s death will later motivate him to cover the words up. Pickles and Dazza, however, fail as Dumby’s teammates due to their racial prejudices, leaving Blacky to be the only one to support Dumby by attending his funeral.
Themes
Darcy is in his usual fishing spot. Blacky asks Darcy his opinion about the shooting. Darcy says that this isn’t the first time someone has been killed in town. Blacky argues that Dumby was just a kid who didn’t deserve what happened to him, but Darcy says that killing is human nature and there’s nothing that can be done about it. Darcy goes home, leaving Blacky alone on the jetty.
Again, Darcy shows how even the members of Blacky’s community that he most respects can be complicit in racism. Blacky is, as usual, desperate for at least one person to approve of his actions, but the narrative makes it clear that Blacky will have to act against his community’s expectations to do what is just.
Themes
Blacky climbs beneath the jetty. He sits above the water and thinks about how everyone told him not to go to the funeral. He can smell a storm coming before it begins to rain. Once the rain stops, he climbs back up on the jetty. Blacky realizes that, despite everyone else’s opinions, he is going to go to Dumby’s funeral.
The coming storm represents the emotional turmoil within Blacky as he weighs personal sacrifice against his duty to his friend. His friendship with Dumby pushes him to defy his town’s prejudices and go to the funeral, even though the costs to him personally might be high.
Themes
As Blacky walks home, he accidently passes Cathy without greeting her. She calls after him and invites him to walk to the end of the jetty with her. He says he has to go home. She reminds him of the goodbye party she is throwing tomorrow, the same day as Dumby’s funeral. Blacky says he’ll see her tomorrow, but he knows he won’t.
Blacky’s denial of Cathy represents a major shift in his character, as before he denied his connections to the Point in order to please her. Now, he knows he will sacrifice even things that are important to him (namely, his relationship with Cathy) in order to honor Dumby’s memory.
Themes
