Previous
Chapter 2
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Glass Sword, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Oppression, Cruelty, and Inequality
Division and Hierarchy
Identity and Change
Betrayal, Distrust, and Isolation
Justice vs. Vengeance
Summary
Analysis
Mare wakes up in the underwater boat. Exhausted and heartbroken, she remembers Scarlet Guardsmen who died because of her own mistakes. She also recalls kind-hearted Silvers, including her friend and former guard Lucas, who were murdered by Maven. Mare thinks of Julian and Sara, but it’s too painful for her to wonder if they’re dead or alive.
As soon as Mare is out of immediate danger and has a quiet moment to reflect, she’s overtaken by guilt and grief. She blames herself for many deaths, even though Maven was the true murderer. She mourns her Silver friends alongside her Red allies, which shows that Mare has grown to care for people on both sides of the blood divide. To Mare, Lucas represents Silvers’ humanity and potential for goodness, which Mare didn’t believe in until she met him.
Active
Themes
In her bunk, Mare reminds herself of the list Julian secretly gifted her. This list contains the names of people who, like Mare, have both Red blood and Silver abilities because of a genetic mutation. Mare wants to find these people and protect them from Maven and his mother.
Julian’s list of other Red-and-Silver people is important for three reasons. First, the existence of newbloods, which the list proves, challenges the strict binary division between Reds and Silvers that persists in Mare’s world. Second, the list offers Mare hope for personal connection and belonging with people who are just like her. Third, the list provides Mare with a new purpose. She’s confident about her next path forward, which will simultaneously save people she cares about and help resist Maven.
Active
Themes
As Mare dresses herself in new clothes, including a threadbare red shirt, Kilorn visits her. He says she’s lucky to be alive, but Mare snaps that she hasn’t been very lucky at all. Then she apologizes, acknowledging that other people have given their lives for her. But, to herself, she thinks that she’s died too. Past versions of herself, such as the girl who lived in the Stilts and the Silver princess Mareena, are gone. Mare doesn’t know who she is anymore, but she is devastated by everything she’s lost.
Mare asks where they’re going, but Kilorn doesn’t know. He’s not bothered by the Scarlet Guard’s secrecy, because he knows the Guard is wary of potential betrayal. Kilorn adds that Mare should understand, considering that she doesn’t even trust her own brother. Then Kilorn takes Mare to visit Shade, who’s healing from the gunshot wound to his leg.
Active
Themes
Get the entire Glass Sword LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
On the way to the medical station, Mare notices that Kilorn is wounded too. She feels angry that he’s no longer safe as a fisherman’s apprentice. Mare also notices that Guardsmen avoid her gaze as she passes them, as if they’re afraid of her. They call her “the lightning girl” in whispers and address her formally, which makes her uncomfortable.
Active
Themes
In the medical station, Mare and Kilorn talk to Shade, who says they’re traveling to a Scarlet Guard base on an island called Tuck. The rest of Mare’s family is waiting there, along with even more Guardsmen. Mare is surprised to hear that the Guard is much larger than she originally thought. She dislikes knowing so little about the Guard, and she worries that Maven will discover the island base. However, Shade insists that the Guard is right to operate secretively and reassures Mare that the Guard is stronger than it appears. He says, “‘We seem weak because we want to.’”
Active
Themes
Mare argues that the Scarlet Guard can’t win against Maven through secrecy and deception. She declares that they need to confront their Silver enemies head-on with the strength of all the Reds who have abilities. Farley joins the conversation and agrees, realizing they could create a powerful army of “newbloods,” her term for Red-and-Silver people.
Active
Themes
