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Chapter 1
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
The opposing team, Wangaroo, depends entirely on their star player, Thumper. Thumper is as big and strong as Colin, but he plays football with the straightforward strategy that Arks prefers. Blacky uses his academic skills to calculate just how little of a chance he stands against someone as big and fast as Thumper. Still, Blacky knows he must at least try to stop Thumper, or else the town will label him as a “gutless wonder” (a coward) for the rest of his life.
Knowing he cannot successfully tackle Thumper, Blacky devises a strategy to simply pretend to tackle him. This way, the town will still think Blacky is brave enough to face Thumper. Blacky also contemplates poisoning Thumper so he cannot play at all. He tells Arks of his poisoning plan, but Arks tells him to stop kidding around.
Blacky’s plan to fake tackle Thumper exposes the flaws of his community’s expectations. His community does not value genuine courage, but instead only cares that one appears tough. Masculine toughness in his town is therefore shallow and performative.
Themes
