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
Amari feels like she’s in a nightmare. The maji wreak havoc on the palace as Zélie runs for the cellars and the captive Iyika. Amari starts to follow, but Nehanda stumbles down the stairs behind and shrieks, “No.” Amari feels trapped and thinks of all Nehanda has taken from her. Nehanda hatefully sends marble chunks flying into Amari’s stomach, but she stops when Amari sends pain shooting into Nehanda’s head. Amari hears Saran’s words, “Strike, Amari,” but then she hears another voice in her head say no. Amari stops. Nehanda taunts her, but Amari realizes that while she thought killing Saran was the answer, it just turned her into a monster. Nehanda hurls insults at Amari, but Amari insists that she’s capable of great things and can choose to be better. Amari runs after Zélie, feeling lighter than ever.
Finally, Amari can begin to stand up to Saran’s messaging and Nehanda, just like Inan did by choosing to dissolve the monarchy. When she chooses not to kill Nehanda—that is, chooses compassion and life, rather than violence—it shows that she learned from her mistakes in Ibadan and doesn’t want to kill people needlessly anymore. Further, she understands that killing people because it makes her feel better isn’t the answer; doing so just leads to more violence. Instead, Amari knows now that she always has a choice and can always choose to be better, just like Zélie made clear earlier.
Themes
