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 cries harder than she ever has in Mama Agba’s arms. When Zélie calms down, Mama Agba greets Amari and Tzain. Zélie turns to the other maji. The young Reaper steps up and explains that everyone in his family can make animations that weave together. He kneels, bows, and begs for Zélie to take him as her Second. Another girl laughs and calls the boy Mâzeli. Mâzeli promises to serve Zélie and insists that they’ll fall in love and have children. Mama Agba cuts in and leads everyone away. Zélie sees Roën accept a bag of gold and hold back. He explains that he’s headed back to Lagos to make money. He whispers in Zélie’s ear that they’ll see each other again.
Roën has to chase money—his clear attraction to Zélie can’t be pursued if he wants to continue being successful as a mercenary. Mâzeli’s innocent youth and enthusiasm turn him into an immediately loveable and sympathetic character, which begins to shift Zélie’s loyalties from exclusively Amari and Tzain to the larger family of Reapers she’ll meet through the Iyika.
Themes
As they walk, Mama Agba tells them the origins of the Iyika. She founded the group; she had a vision of Zélie at the divîners’ settlement and she and Baba found the survivors after the monarchy attacked. Baba sacrificed himself to the guards when the monarchy attacked again. Mâzeli picks up the story and says that they waited at Lagos’s borders with other maji and as soon as magic returned, they all stormed the city with their newfound power. As the group approaches a steep cliff, a tall Grounder steps forward. Mama Agba introduces him as Kâmarū and then coaches him through opening up the mountainside.
The descriptions of the attack on Lagos indicate again that violence, within the world of Orïsha, is cathartic and is something necessary for oppressed people like the maji to use if they want to be heard and make a difference. Their oppressed state has made it so that they have few or no other options except for violence—and, Zélie will see, except for cultivating community and remembering the history of their people.
Themes
