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.