Previous
Chapter 20
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Red Queen, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Biological Determinism and Social Inequality
Trust and Betrayal
Power and Degradation
Revolution vs. Stability
Summary
Analysis
Mare goes back to her room and wonders how she will save Kilorn. She thinks of Julian. She goes to him and pleads with him to help stage the prisoners’ escape. He is unsympathetic with the prisoners, who he bluntly calls terrorists, until Mare tells him that she was part of the plan. She calls the bomb “unexpected” but reflects internally that it was “a horror.”
Mare, who feels extremely isolated and distrustful, must be desperate for help if she is willing to confess to Julian her involvement in the assassination plot. Her admission also demonstrates that of all her acquaintances, Julian seems to her the most trustworthy. Mare makes herself vulnerable by telling him not only of her involvement but also of how she lost control over the plan.
Active
Themes
Julian is horrified that Mare is implicated in this scheme. Julian knows that the queen will pluck out his eyes to prevent his ever reading again should he get involved too. Still, Julian decides that helping Mare will be a good place to start his revenge for Queen Coriane’s death, which Elara and others falsely claimed to be a suicide.
Julian is willing to risk the loss of reading, which he has characterized as a substitute for human companionship, in order to help Mare. However, he is motivated not solely by a desire to help her, but also a desire to avenge his sister’s death. This demonstrates that while individuals’ objectives might line up, rarely do two people share exactly the same motivations. Should the situation change, Julian might be persuaded to work against Mare.
Active
Themes
Back in her room, Mare convinces Lucas to accompany her to the kitchen, because dinner never happened in the aftermath of the bomb. She feels bad using him but cannot think of a better plan. Mare shuts off the cameras in the hall. Julian, who lies in wait, uses his power as a singer to convince Lucas to lead them to the prisoners. Julian and Mare continue to use their powers as they pass cameras and guards. Mare convinces the guards outside the cell to let them past by insinuating that she and Julian want to torture the prisoners, unsupervised.
Active
Themes
Alone with the prisoners, Mare and Julian ask them about the bomb. Farley swears that it was not the Scarlet Guard’s doing and that the Guard does not kill senselessly. Besides, as Kilorn tells Mare, it would have been a bad idea to kill “our greatest hope,” which Mare interprets to mean her. At Mare’s urging, Julian uses his power to get Lucas to bend the bars of the cell open to allow the prisoners to escape. Julian then manipulates the sentinel so that she will not remember seeing anyone help the prisoners out of the cell.
Active
Themes
Get the entire Red Queen LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Julian must also manipulate the memories of the other sentinels who saw him, Mare, and Lucas go down to the cell. His gift is not strong enough to handle two sentinels at once, so Mare tries to intervene by acting the part of a commanding lady, as she has seen Evangeline do. One of the sentinels becomes suspicious and shoots Mare in the stomach just as she sends a bolt of lightning at him. A bullet from the other sentinel nearly misses Mare. She knocks out both sentinels with a ball of sparks, then she falls into Kilorn’s arms. She notices his green eyes.
Active
Themes
Julian snaps to attention, using his gift to order one of the sentinels, a skin healer, to wake up. He has the skin healer heal Mare and Farley, who has a dislocated shoulder. Julian tells the prisoners that they have a few hours before the sentinels wake up. Mare, Lucas, and Julian lead the party to Cal’s garage, where Walsh hugs Mare and tells her that she hopes she will be the Red queen one day. Farley says they will meet again soon, and Kilorn hopelessly pleads with Mare to come with him. She refuses, saying the cause needs her at the palace. As the escapees leave, Kilorn tells Mare, “Red queen. Has a nice ring to it.”
