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Chapter 2
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Last Unicorn, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love and Friendship
Mortality and Innocence
Obsession and Control
Belief and Stories
Summary
Analysis
Before dawn the next day, Schmendrick visits the unicorn in her cage, and she asks him why he didn’t tell her that Mommy Fortuna cast a spell on her. Schmendrick responds that he thought the unicorn knew, and he promises that he’s a friend and will help her escape. Mommy Fortuna puts on another show, and after she retires for the night, Schmendrick returns to the unicorn’s cage to try and free her. Each spell he casts upon the cage, however, fails. One spell makes the iron bars of her cage shrink and shrink, and the two panic until Schmendrick somehow manages to stop the spell. Finally, he gives up, pulls a set of keys from his pockets, and sets the unicorn free.
By turning on his employer within only a few days of having known the unicorn, Schmendrick proves that he’s on the unicorn’s side. At the same time, he reveals just how lackluster his magical skills are: it’s implied that the act of unlocking a cage should be rather simple, yet Schmendrick isn’t able to manage it. Nonetheless, he uses his magic despite also carrying the keys to the cage, demonstrating that he’s at least resilient, even if his magical skills are lacking.
Active
Themes
Rukh, whom Schmendrick had distracted by asking him to solve a riddle, then appears, discovering that Schmendrick is setting the unicorn free. As the two men get into a tussle, the unicorn touches her horn to the lock on each of the other cages, setting the other creatures free. Schmendrick shouts that the harpy will kill the unicorn if she sets her free, but the unicorn unlocks her cage anyway. The harpy strikes once at the unicorn but misses—and then she reaches for the incoming form of Mommy Fortuna, whom she kills with her claws. The unicorn and Schmendrick leave together, and the unicorn instructs him to walk and not run. Rukh, who darts away, screams into the night.
