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
Even though their parents are gone, the Black siblings have a normal, slightly quieter dinner. Team-man is silent. He now has a bruise on his face. Blacky decides he must paint over the graffiti, but this means he’ll have to get into his father’s locked shed to get the paint.
The Black siblings care for each other as family in this scene not because anyone is making them, but because they choose to make the effort. Similarly, Blacky decides he himself must make the effort to combat racism, regardless of the costs.
Themes
After dinner, the siblings wash the dishes, watch television, brush their teeth, and all go to bed on time. Blacky wants to stay awake and wait for his father to come home, but he falls asleep anyway.
The siblings do their duty without adult supervision, showing on a small scale how even young people can take charge of themselves and their choices. Blacky prepares to face off against his greatest bully, his father, in order to cover up the graffiti.
Themes
