65 pages • 2 hours read
Matt DinnimanDungeon Crawler Carl
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020A 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
The Human Capacity for Resilience
The novel illustrates that the human capacity for resilience is limitless when people are forced to endure extreme situations. Carl and Donut are thrown into a dangerous and cruel world, and Carl struggles to survive and to preserve his sense of self at the same time. At first, Carl takes a reactive stance to this perilous new reality and can make no long-term plans; he simply focuses on physically surviving until the next attack. Locked into this extreme form of survival mode, he attacks enemies without pausing to think, and as a result, he blunders into several traps because he does not understand the lethal nature of this new world. This pattern gradually changes as Carl adapts to the dungeon and builds up his resilience by surviving each harrowing incident. Once he adapts to the physical demands of his existence, he becomes more focused on surviving the psychological attacks that the dungeon offers. At this point, Carl must adapt to his physical environment while retaining his core values.
As Carl strives to survive physically, he must also strive to keep his humanity in inhumane conditions. This internal struggle becomes most prominent when he decides to join the leaders of the Meadow Lark party in protecting the elderly, even though this is not the best strategy for survival. Carl’s dedication to his humanity is illustrated when he decides, “If I’m gonna die, I might as well do it in the pursuit of a worthy cause” (179). Carl concludes that there are certain core values, such as his sense of honor and purpose, that he will not compromise. Instead of finding another stairway, Carl and Donut stay with Meadow Lark and face the borough boss despite the seeming hopelessness of the situation, and he and the others ultimately prevail. This win not only saves the elderly and allows them to descend to Level 2, but it also raises Carl and Donut’s levels and catches the attention of the famous interviewer, Odette.
With each colorful action sequence, the novel illustrates that resilience and adaptation are necessary traits for surviving the dungeon’s inhumane conditions. However, at the same time, the narrative indicates that certain intrinsic traits must remain static so that Carl does not lose his sense of humanity. The dungeon’s cruelty tries to destroy positive human traits and exploit toxic traits, but Carl clings to his honor whenever he is tested.
The Ethical Implications of Sadistic Entertainment
Despite the ludicrous nature of its hyperbolic action sequences, Dungeon Crawler Carl nonetheless contains a more serious undertone, for its premise suggests that entertainment derived from real-world suffering is inherently evil and inevitably corrupts everyone involved. The novel offers many examples of the corrosive impacts of entertainment that exploits the suffering of others. Many major bosses are snatched from the real world and turned monstrous, and many boss battles are designed to ensure maximum collateral damage.
The dungeon forces its crawlers to face a barrage of ethical dilemmas as unseen viewers take delight in the impossible decisions that participants must make in order to survive. Imani of the Meadow Lark party illustrates this dynamic by killing 12 other humans; although Carl is unnerved by this fact, he eventually discovers that these kills were essentially acts of mercy to prevent the further suffering of elderly that she was unable to save. While Imani only took these actions to help the elderly under her care, she nonetheless gained many experience points. Carl points out that because of her actions, any weaker human in the dungeon becomes a target. When he shares this insight with Donut, she is initially skeptical, asserting that nobody could be “evil” enough to murder helpless people simply to boost their own stats in the game. Unfortunately, however, Carl and Donut have already met two crawlers who are indeed evil enough to do just that: Frank and Maggie. This particular pair targets other crawlers by pretending to be friendly and then attacking them to gain experience and advance in the game.
This dynamic is also apparent in the demeanor of former crawlers, for both Mordecai and Odette show the physical and mental scars left by previous games, and their brokenness foreshadows what could happen to Carl and Donut, even if they survive. Although Odette is free, successful, and rich after surviving the dungeon to Level 12, she suffered her body being cut in half. Likewise, although Mordecai survived physically unscathed, his psychological scars are immense, and he is still indentured, even after decades of service in the game.
Faced with these ruinous possibilities for his own future, Carl begins to fight back in the only way he can: by exploiting the ruthless rules of the dungeon and twisting them to allow him to ameliorate his own situation. This aspect of the story is shown most clearly when he confronts the Maestro and beats him at his own game. The Maestro is used to picking on weak crawlers and exploiting them for the amusement of his fans, but Carl realizes that because of his popularity, he has the upper hand. As he states, “I didn’t need to be stronger than him. Donut and I were something better. We were expensive” (374). In the dungeon, brute strength helps, but a crawler’s number of viewers is the most important stat in the game. Because Donut and Carl are popular, someone like the Maestro cannot afford to hurt them. Carl manages to exploit this mercenary system, but he is also fully aware that his life is only valuable as long as he continues to earn money for those who control the game.
Partnership and Loyalty under Duress
Dungeon Crawler Carl explores the complex dynamics of partnership and loyalty under extreme conditions, while also examining how trauma can destroy such a partnership. As the novel begins, Carl and Donut learn to work together despite their differences, and several emotional moments reveal their growing dedication to each other. For example, when Carl realizes that he will die after being injured by a neighborhood boss, he throws a bomb and tells Donut “And I’m probably about to die, but I think you’ll be okay” (297). Carl knows that the bomb will kill him, but he hopes it will kill the boss as well, and his last act is to use his own body to protect Donut. Donut then saves Carl from burning to death and helps to heal him. Although Carl was initially intent on leaving Donut, their time in the dungeon has forged a genuine bond, and rather than seeking their own individual survival, Carl and Donut risk protecting each other at the cost of their own health and safety.
Another group, Meadow Lark, also shows loyalty toward a cause greater than themselves, overcoming insurmountable odds because they are determined to protect their charges at all costs. Meadow Lark has come together as a collective in order to protect a group of elderly people from a dungeon that would otherwise kill them. Carl is so impressed by the leaders’ loyalty that he joins their cause despite the danger to himself and Donut. Strategically, Carl knows helping Meadow Lark is a terrible idea, but although Donut’s response to his urge to help indicates that she is more pragmatic than empathetic, she understands that his instinct is to protect weaker people from the dungeon’s dangers. The strength of their partnership is reflected in the fact that she will go along with his decision.
Notably, however, the dungeon itself is designed to destroy such bonds, as is evidenced by Mordecai’s suggestion that Carl abandon Donut on level nine, when the crown she wears will require her to kill everyone in the Blood Sultanate line of succession before she can go on to Level 10. While this eventuality remains unaddressed in this first installment of the series, the same theme is explored in the characters of Frank and Maggie, who act as antagonists and callously attack weaker crawlers to gain experience and advantages. Even though they share a cruel streak, the dungeon has already irreparably fractured their relationship. When they are brought onto the Maestro’s show to taunt Carl, he realizes how much Maggie dislikes her husband now that their daughter, Yvette, has died. As Carl and Donut meet challenge after challenge, it becomes clear that the dungeon will relentlessly attack Donut and Carl and attempt to destroy their loyalty to each other.
