"My dad hates umbrellas," said Deeba, swinging her own. "When it rains he always says the same thing. 'I don't believe the presence of moisture in the air is sufficient reason to overturn society's usually sensible taboo against wielding spiked clubs at eye level.'"
Deeba's father's reference to umbrellas as potential weapons is ironic given that Brokenbroll has weaponized umbrellas in UnLondon by making them completely ineffective when it comes to shielding the owner from the ill effects of the Smog. Although her father sees them as the aggressor, likening them to the spiked clubs used in Medieval times, and they are weaponized in UnLondon by NOT doing something, the theory behind them as weapons is remarkably similar.
Deeba's father is also referring to the admonishment children are always given when opening umbrellas as their parents always warn them that they could "have someone's eye out" when umbrellas are in the vicinity.
Where's the skill in being a hero if you were always destined to do it?
Zanna is predestined to save UnLondon, because she is the Shwazzy, or "Chosen One". She therefore feels that there is no skill or glory in doing so, because she was always meant to do it. It is written in the book of prophecies for her, and so she is not really doing anything at all other than letting predestined events happen as they are meant to.
For Deeba to be the hero, and to save UnLondon, does take skill though, because she is not destined to do it. She is not the Chosen One, and there is nothing that says she should save anyone from anything. There is therefore more skill and glory in saving the world when you were not the one who was always supposed to do it.
"Come on, then, " Deeba said. "We haven't got time to waste. You're not the ones who are going to get forgot in a few day's time if you don't phone home."
Londoners traversing UnLondon do so at significant peril, because if they are there for too long, they are forgotten about in London. She is referencing in this admonishment that her companions are already dead, and so nobody is looking for them. They will not be living again if they return to London. Deeba, on the other hand, has only a small window of opportunity in which to save the UnLondoners from the Smog, and she is anxious to get started on the mission.
