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
Kenyon punches the walls in fear and terror as Dakarai comforts Jahi, exhausted from the effort of fighting. Zélie gently turns Mâzeli away from the soldier’s severed arm as Amari notes that Inan called his soldiers off. Kenyon snaps that Inan brought the military; he’s not being peaceful. Mâzeli announces that they have to work together to get out, but only after they collect scrolls. Everyone looks around the domed room, which is filled with scrolls. When Kâmarū says he’s not sure if he can tunnel out, Amari orders everyone to collect as many scrolls as they can and burn the rest. Zélie insists they can’t, since the scrolls are the history of the maji, but Amari coldly says that they’re weapons in the monarchy’s hands. Everyone knows Amari is right.
Whether Inan called his soldiers off or not, Kenyon still has a point: Inan has surrounded himself with people like Nehanda and General Jokôye, who are very powerful and aren’t at all interested in standing down just because Inan loves Zélie and Amari. Amari is able to insist that they burn the rest because as a tîtán, she hasn’t spent her life understanding the importance of these scrolls and the Yoruba language they contain. Even if they are a weapon in the hands of the military, they’re still an essential aspect of the maji culture.
Themes
Amari tells Zélie not to act on her feelings for Inan. Zélie ignores her and thinks of stabbing Inan, but Amari touches Zélie. Zélie begins to sweat, falls, and flies forward in pain. Her body shakes and light pours from her mouth. Everyone else flies backward and Zélie begins to rise to the ceiling. Amari reaches for Zélie but when they touch, blue light ignites in Amari’s chest. Amari rises too, and they hear hundreds of voices chanting. Zélie sees navy ribbons of light coming from Amari and thinks of her ìsípayá. Suddenly, the vision disappears and the girls fall. The scroll room is back to normal, but Zélie’s gold tattoos now stretch down her back. Zélie realizes she can see ashê glowing in each maji, but Amari radiates waves of blue, especially when they touch. Zélie says that Oya showed her this during her ascension: this is how to beat Nehanda.
Trying to decipher what Oya showed Zélie during her ìsípayá is an opportunity for Zélie to connect even more deeply and meaningfully with her traditions and her culture. By trying to interpret her ìsípayá, she’s walking a path that every elder before her also has. This situates the events of the novel as part of a longer history, both in the sense of the Orïsha’s history of struggle and the history of the maji and what it means to lead one’s clan. The new tattoos inscribe this history onto Zélie’s skin, literally making her a part of the culture and the history. She is like the scrolls now in that one can read her and learn about what’s happening.
Themes
