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Chapter 25
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Cinderella is Dead, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Sexism and Feminism
Love
Oppression and Control
Coming of Age
Revolution, Solidarity, and Teamwork
Summary
Analysis
Over the next few days, Sophia, Constance, and Amina begrudgingly work together to prepare the necromancy magic. They are also preparing a spell that will allow them to glimpse the future. The time for the divination ritual arrives, and Amina gives Constance and Sophia tea mixed with a potion. They then swim in a pond, where they each receive a vision. As they disrobe, Sophia is very aware of both Constance’s body and her own. Sophia enters the pond and has a vision of King Manford looking angry and then transforming into a corpse, with Cinderella standing behind him. A ball of light explodes between Sophia and Manford.
Sophia’s mission to defeat Manford lets her experience magic, which she previously doubted was real. She discovers that magic is very much real, but it is not the simple and romantic version portrayed in the fairy tale of Cinderella. Real magic involves hard work. It also involves being comfortable in one’s own body, which is a vulnerable undertaking for Sophia to attempt alongside Constance given the mutual attraction between them.
Active
Themes
The women share their visions with each other. Constance saw the book of Cinderella’s story in a smoky hallway with a figure on the ground, and Amina saw her own death. Sophia worries she isn’t up to the task of fighting Manford: Constance has been fighting him her whole life, and Amina is “the fairy godmother,” while Sophia feels insignificant. Amina counters that people who consider themselves “chosen” wait for fate to happen to them, while people without a destined purpose work hard to make fate happen.
Active
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