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
During Zélie’s celebration, Amari realizes that being an elder isn’t like being a monarch: it’s like being the foundation of the clan’s home. Amari wonders what it would be like to be embraced like Zélie is, especially as she watches Ramaya sit amongst her other Connectors. A sharp bell rings and a Burner runs over a bridge. She says that their fighters in Lagos are gone; Inan struck back. The monarchy will open their roads by morning. Amari thinks that this is the Iyika’s fault; if they’d listened to her, this wouldn’t have happened. The elders gather and discuss whether they’re strong enough to take on Nehanda, but Amari butts in. She says that attacking would be a mistake and offers to contact Inan, but Ramaya pushes and threatens Amari. Amari steels herself and challenges Ramaya to be the new Connector elder.
What Amari begins to understand is that the maji don’t have rulers and hierarchies that mean the same thing as the monarchy. This is a set culture with its own traditions, in which elders are more like beloved patriarchs or matriarchs than dictators—which is why Amari is so curious as to what that might feel like. Amari has no concept of power that isn’t governed by cruelty or ruthlessness, for all her talk about diplomacy, which is why she chooses to challenge Ramaya to be the Connector elder. It’s how she knows how to get her way, and it’s fundamentally violent.
Themes
