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Chapter 29
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
People in town only want to talk about the pub shooting. Everyone has their own version of what they think happened that night. Blacky says that he knows for certain that Big Mac was the only person in the pub late at night. Big Mac was sleeping when he heard something outside. Then his dog started barking and Big Mac heard footsteps and glass breaking.
The community constructs their own facts around the reality of the shooting according to their own prejudices. This selective interpretation of the facts mirrors Blacky’s previous denial of the racism of the football awards so he could continue to play.
Themes
Three men wearing stockings over their heads came into the bedroom. One carried a gun. They demanded Big Mac unlock the safe. Big Mac said he had to go get the keys out of the closet, but instead, he took his gun out of the closest. He began shooting into the room and didn’t stop until the gun was empty. Then Big Mac called the police.
The issue of responsibility for the shooting is an ambiguity the novel never resolves, an uncertainty reflected by Blacky’s “grey” mood in the following chapter. However, Blacky has reason to believe Dumby’s death was caused by racism, because Big Mac did not stop shooting and has also behaved in racist ways in the past.
Themes
