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 sits in the stone prison Kâmarū crafted and thinks of Saran. She told him she’d be a better queen but thinks that now, she’s just like him. Amari wonders when Saran became the guiding voice in her head. As Amari vomits, Zélie appears and asks if Amari would’ve attacked the village had she known that Zélie was there. Amari admits she would’ve. Amari realizes that she’s the daughter of Saran and Nehanda; she was taught to win at all costs. Zélie shares that they brought the victims back to life using the magic of the moonstone and now, they’re going to destroy the monarchy using their combined magic. Amari warns that Nehanda will slaughter them and feels conflicted at the thought of dissolving the monarchy.
Realizing that she’s just like Saran is a shocking proposition for Amari, as she’s worked so hard to be anything but this. However, the emotional scars he left on her and his training to focus on winning and duty were too much, and Amari’s love for Zélie couldn’t overpower years of training. Zélie’s insistence that the Iyika are going to destroy the monarchy shows that she understands now that the system itself the root of the problem. It doesn’t matter so much who the ruler is, especially after someone as kind as Amari has shown herself to be ruthless due to years of royal training.
Themes
Amari warns that the attack will throw Orïsha into chaos, but Zélie insists that it’ll be better than a corrupt crown. Amari realizes that she’s lost the right to lead at all and realizes that Zélie is here to ask for a sacrifice. For a moment Amari is terrified, but then she realizes that being the sacrifice will allow her to make things right and save Orïsha. She agrees. Zélie tries to insist that they can’t, but Amari begs Zélie to let her fix this. Mama Agba interrupts the girls and says it’s not time for Amari to die—Mama Agba will be the sacrifice instead.
Amari’s willingness to agree to the sacrifice shows how much she too has bought into the necessity of violence—in her mind, allowing Zélie to kill her in this way will make things right and atone for some of the horrible things she’s done. Mama Agba, however, suggests that there’s more to sacrificing than just righting wrongs. Her death will allow Amari to continue to grow and work for a better future.
Themes
