49 pages • 1 hour read
Kat FallsDark Life
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Self-Acceptance in the Face of Prejudice
Dark Life explores the difficulty of self-acceptance in the face of a society with strong prejudices. Pioneer children like Ty, who have spent a significant amount of their development undersea have evolved abilities to adapt to their environment. These abilities are called Dark Gifts due to the derogatory name for pioneers, Dark Life. Most pioneers and Topsiders worry that such gifts indicate neurological damage. When Ty’s parents discover his gift still exists, “Their expressions were of shock, grief, and worst of all, regret” (127). For pioneer parents, such reactions come from a place of concern and lack of knowledge. For many Topsiders, the bogeyman of Dark Gifts validates their prejudices toward pioneers. On the more extreme end, people like Ranger Grimes believe that “Living in the Dark makes [pioneers] crazy. Makes them see things that aren’t there […] If we was supposed to fill up our lungs with liquid, God would have made us fish” (74).
Ty understands the dangers of being different due to his Dark Gifts, the perception of Topsiders, and Doc’s medical experiments. He has spent his youth hiding his abilities and has convinced others to hide their gifts. He knows he is healthy and that Dark Gifts are not something to be concerned over, but he also knows how everyone else around him sees Dark Gifts as something awful. Ty worries that his differences could shatter his community. The inability of others to accept Ty makes it impossible for him to accept himself.
Shade is Ty’s antithetical foil regarding Dark Gifts. Ty sees his worst fears manifest when Shade reveals his own Dark Gift to the public. As his neighbors watch Shade, Ty notes that they wear “the same expression that Grimes had–a twisted look of fear and hatred. Shade’s Dark Gift made him a monster, and I couldn’t help but wonder if one day they’d look at me that way” (123). The discrimination built into the fabric of Ty’s society affects every level of his self-perception. He insists people only watch him because they see him as a “freak” and not, as Gemma suggests, because he is good looking. Ty does not realize how deeply this lack of self-acceptance affects him and those around him.
Gemma foils Ty’s self-loathing on a mundane level. Gemma values uniqueness and disregards what is considered “normal,” evidenced by her willingness to break the law to find her brother. She tells Ty that: “You’re setting an example for Zoe and Hewitt […] Probably other kids, too. They watch you because you’re older. And what are you telling them? To be ashamed of themselves” (110). Shade goads him and picks at the doubt sown by his sister. Shade tells him to “Flaunt it, kid […] Make ‘em get used to it” (114). Gemma and Shade work in tandem as siblings to push Ty toward deciding if he should reveal his Dark Gift or hide it forever. Ty experiences a turning point in choice to save Shade, another person with a Dark Gift and his community’s subsequent acceptance. Ty’s self-acceptance is ultimately symbolized in kissing Gemma. Ty listens to his desires, rather than his insecurities and fear of not being accepted. Ty’s ability to accept himself directly aids his struggle against the Commonwealth and helps him grow as a person, learning to express affection.
Community Support: Building a Family
The pioneer community of Dark Life represents the possibility of true community and family. Ty’s community reveals the ways that a group of people can band together and become stronger. Gemma’s lack of family and community presents an obstacle within her subplot. As an outsider, she provides narrative exposition for the reader and a glimpse into how the pioneer family functions.
Gemma’s desire to be part of a community like Ty’s shows how lonely and isolated surface living is. The director of Gemma’s Commonwealth home treats her like runaway property rather than a person. Gemma’s search for her brother is a search for her only family. Gemma’s willingness to break the law and undertake a dangerous adventure in search of her only human connection highlights the importance of community.
The attack on and reconstruction of the Peavey homestead shows Gemma what it might be like to have family. When Shurl and Lars lose their livestock to the Seablite Gang attack, every family in the territory gave some of their own livestock to the Peaveys. Ty explains that the community is so close that if he were spotted by any pioneer in the saloon, he would be dragged back to his parents. He’s surprised when Gemma, realizing everyone in the community looks out for one another, says that it is “the nicest thing I’ve ever heard” (59). Ty takes his community for granted, stating that “These people are my neighbors. Down here, that means something” (59). Ty’s explanation implies that he cannot understand another way of living. Despite Ty’s anxiety and fears of being accepted, he is privileged compared to Gemma in having a community to call home.
The Topside represents a more atomized way of living, while the Benthic Territory represents a more communalistic way of living. Ma and Pa offer to take Gemma in as a foster child, and in the face of the director’s abusive speech toward Gemma, Ma “put a protective arm across her shoulders” (100), providing a physical sign of their support. When Shade pushes Gemma away to keep her safe, Ty reminds Gemma, “You don’t have to be born into a family to be wanted” (133). Gemma joins the welcoming pioneers of Benthic Territory, learning the skills she needs and becoming one of them. Gemma’s newfound is vital for the survival of the Topside, indicating that it is a more authentic way of living compared to the cramped, urban living above. Dark Life argues for sustainable, communal living through Gemma’s journey to find family under the ocean.
Morality Versus Government Abuses
The post-apocalyptic government of Dark Life commits abuses against citizens to maintain control and hides the evidence of its wrongdoings. Such governments are common antagonists in dystopian, post-apocalyptic literature. Ty’s narrative highlights the importance of distinguishing morality from legality, while Ty takes on severe consequences to do what is right in the face of the law.
The Commonwealth declared Emergency Law following the apocalypse, which allows the suspension of civilians’ rights. Benthic Territory and its pioneers are particularly vulnerable citizens, with little say in what happens in the government since they are a territory and not a state. Benthic Territory is essential to Commonwealth survival, but the government downplays its need and allows its Topsider citizens to treat pioneers with prejudice, treating pioneers as second-class citizens. The relationship between the Benthic Territory and the Commonwealth is an allegory for real-world colonization and imperialism.
Falls uses revelations of increasingly immoral government scandals to structure the plot. The government removes vital resources from the Benthic Territory to coerce the pioneers to cover up the Seablite scandal by killing or capturing the outlaws. In his attempts to make sure his home can survive by eliminating the Seablite Gang threat, Ty learns the truth about Seablite’s prison labor and human experiments. Ty acknowledges that if he had been “locked up in here, I’d be mad at the government, too” (89). Revelations about the government’s corruption are steady throughout the novel, raising tensions and always keeping the Commonwealth present as an antagonizing force in the lives of the underwater characters.
Ty struggles to reconcile his morals with the requirements of the law and the rewards dangled before him for capturing the Seablite Gang. Ty desperately wants his home to survive and grow, and the Commonwealth uses this desire to turn him and the other pioneers against the Seablite Gang. At first, Ty stands by his belief that the gang should be punished, telling Gemma, “He might be your brother, but he’s still an outlaw. He deserves to go to jail” (122). Despite the findings in the Seablite Prison, Ty equates legality with what is right, even if he is upset by the Commonwealth’s behavior toward Benthic Territory. When the pioneers try to execute Shade, Ty watches his neighbors and considers his options: “With Shade gone, Benthic Territory would have a chance. Ma and Pa would keep the homestead. All I had to do was…nothing” (125). The execution is a tipping point for Ty’s ideas about morality and legality. He decides that Shade and the Seablite Gang only behaved as they did in response to government abuse. He no longer allows Commonwealth law to dictate his actions, choosing to honor what he believes is right and fight what he believes is wrong.
The Seablite Gang is no longer an antagonizing force when Ty saves Shade. The desires of Ty and the Seablite Gang are aligned, suggesting that the Commonwealth used the pioneer’s adherence to legality to turn two potential allies against one another. Morality in this dystopian world is antithetical to legality. This argument is bolstered by the parallels drawn between the Benthic Territory and real-world colonization and imperialism.
