Teamwork and Family Theme Analysis

At the beginning of Deadly, Unna?, Blacky views “family” and “team” as empty words. His football teammates don’t defend or care for each other off the field, while his family seems to create problems for each other more often then they solve them. After Dumby’s death, however, Blacky comes to appreciate the power and importance of supporting members of one’s closest communities. Merely being part of a family or team does not always equal consistent support, and the novel suggests that such relationships require effort and dedication from all members in order to be meaningful.

In Blacky’s experience, neither his family nor his teammates offer him the care typically associated with such relationships. Blacky’s disappointment in this is evident in his description of his brother Timothy, whom he nicknames “Best Team-man.” Timothy is always winning the “Best Team-man” trophy on their football team, but Blacky dismissively describes his brother as a lemming—meaning that Best Team-man would do anything for the team, even something as extreme as jumping off a cliff. Blacky clearly believes such dedication to the team to be pointlessly self-sacrificing—a viewpoint that is understandable in light of the team’s refusal to offer such dedication in return. For example, when Thumper, a member of an opposing football team, attacks Blacky, none of Blacky’s own friends step in to help him. Only Dumby, Blacky’s aboriginal teammate whom the white teammates resent for both his skill and his race, ends up helping him by pulling the player off of him. Dumby himself is an outsider by Blacky’s community’s standards, since he is indigenous, but he proves that he is the only one truly capable of acting like a supportive teammate. After Dumby’s death, Blacky tries to convince the rest of the team that they should attend the funeral in order to honor their fallen teammate. Both the coach and the other players refuse, citing the differences between their white community and Dumby’s aboriginal one. Despite the perception that a team is supposed to act as one unit, this response shows that a team can be easily divided by prejudice and underscores the fragile, shallow nature of the players’ supposed bond.

Blacky is similarly disappointed in his family for not caring for each other as they should. Blacky states that he hates the television show The Brady Bunch because it presents an ideal family in which the parents always solve their children’s problems. In Blacky’s experience, parents only create problems—a perspective informed by having an alcoholic father who physically and emotionally abuses him. Best Team-man’s treatment of Blacky also lacks the solidarity and support one would expect between brothers, and Blacky laments that Best Team-man’s selflessness on the football field doesn’t translate to their family relationship. For example, when Blacky and Best Team-man get in trouble with their father for taking the boat too far in the ocean, Best Team-man claims the expedition was completely Blacky’s idea. In both instances, blood ties prove weaker than Blacky wishes.

However, when faced with Dumby’s death and the pervasive racism of the town, Blacky takes it upon himself to strengthen these disappointing bonds. He shows his commitment to his true friendships by attending Dumby’s funeral, and he also learns to work together with his siblings to escape their abusive father and paint over the racist graffiti. At Dumby’s funeral, Dumby’s sister Clarence mentions how much it means to their family that Blacky came. Blacky is able to make a grief-filled day for Dumby’s family a little bit better, exemplifying the power of simply being a supportive teammate in a time of great tragedy. Similarly, when Blacky’s father catches him stealing paint in order to cover up the racist graffiti, Blacky’s siblings come to their brother’s aid as their father screams at and hits Blacky. Best Team-man even begins to roll their father’s car towards a cliff in order to distract him, causing Blacky to remark that Best Team-man is living up to his label of lemming by literally almost leaping off a cliff. This time, however, the label has a positive connotation, as Best Team-man proves his love for his brother by risking his own life to save him. By working together, Blacky, Best Team-man, and their other siblings are able to escape their father. Blacky and his siblings then cover up the racist graffiti together, presenting a united front against the racism of their town. Afterwards, Blacky remarks how happy he feels to be with his family on that night. This shows that, while family isn’t always inherently supportive, when family members actually choose to work together, they can create happiness for each other in times of crisis.

At the beginning of the novel, Blacky thinks that the concepts of family and team usually fail to provide the support one expects them to. However, when faced with the tragedies of death, abuse, and racism, Blacky realizes he must put in the effort himself to support his teammate Dumby and his family. Afterward, when Blacky’s siblings unite to save him from their violent father, Blacky realizes family can in fact love and rescue an individual, if its members choose to show up for each other. This realization leaves him with a sense of security and happiness completely foreign to him at the beginning of the novel.