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 realizes that Oya wanted her to understand that by using the moonstone to combine their lifeforces, they can save the maji from the monarchy and win the war. She climbs onto the well’s edge and addresses the crowd. Zélie apologizes to the elders and thinks of all the pain that monarchs have caused. She realizes that magic isn’t the problem: the monarchy is. Loudly, Zélie says that she was here when Saran’s Raid took Mama. Today, not much has changed despite Saran being dead. A villager shouts, “Down with the monarchy” in Yoruba. Zélie says that the maji are Orïsha’s future. The chant grows among the villagers, but Zélie feels cold. She remembers Mama Agba’s words and realizes that they’ll have to sacrifice someone to maintain the connection.
The villagers chanting in Yoruba, reinforces the language’s role as a connecting force among the maji—but also among the monarchy’s other subjects who have been inadvertent victims of the monarchy’s cruel policies. They’re the ones who benefitted from having Healer maji around, and thanks to the Raid, they no longer have that kind of person in their communities. This makes it clear that the Raid dissolved communities that were strong and united, and that united around specific maji traditions.
Themes
