Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Children of Virtue and Vengeance, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Power and Systems of Oppression
Cycles of Violence
Tradition and History
Love vs. Duty
Summary
Analysis
Zélie refuses to take Mama Agba, but Mama Agba says they have to move quickly: Nehanda will execute the other maji within days. Mama Agba silences Zélie’s protests, promises to forgive anything, and pulls Zélie into her arms. Zélie thinks of everything Mama Agba has done for the maji and for Zélie’s family as Mama Agba leads Zélie away from Amari’s cell. Mama Agba says that she knows now that during her ìsípayá, she wasn’t looking into the beyond: she was with Zélie and meeting Sky Mother. As Zélie cries, Mama Agba reminds her that Zélie will carry everyone with her in heart. She’s a child of the gods and will never be alone.
This moment situates Mama Agba as a true leader of the Iyika and a mentor to the young elders: she’s able to show them that by sacrificing her, they won’t lose one of their most powerful (if questionably loyal) fighters at a very young age. As a Seer Mama Agba can’t do much now anyway except provide wisdom and intelligence that the young, disconnected elders don’t have, but since they have the scrolls and the knowledge of what the moonstone means, they don’t need her as much anymore.
Themes
The elders stand in a circle, waiting for Mama Agba. Zélie thinks of how Mama is now a part of her and soon, Mama Agba will be too. Mama Agba enters the circle and Na’imah begins to sing. Mama Agba speaks every elder and Tzain. She tells Amari to not let one moment define or destroy her and then turns to Zélie. She tells Zélie to remember everything. Finally, she tells Zélie to go ahead. Zélie slices Mama Agba’s palm, puts it on her own chest, and whispers the Yoruba incantation. Bright white light spreads and Zélie listens to the ten heartbeats. They all rise as Mama Agba grows black and then bright white. As the maji’s hearts fall into sync, Mama Agba lights up the sky. The maji fall back to the ground.
Allowing Mama Agba to sacrifice herself also means that Mama Agba gets a far more dignified death than she might have otherwise, something that may help the young elders cope with her grief. They can now focus on the fact that she willingly died so that they could make Orïsha a better place for future generations, rather than grieve a horrific or unexpected death at the hands of the monarchy.
Themes
