Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Six of Crows, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Greed
Friendship and Difference
Trauma, the Past, and Moving Forward
Identity, Values, and Growing Up
Summary
Analysis
Joost is a brand-new guard in Ketterdam’s stadwatch, which is on high alert after a trade ambassador’s recent assassination. His current assignment is guarding Councilman Hoede’s mansion, which would be awful—except Joost has fallen madly in love with Anya, one of Hoede’s Grisha indentures. It’s night now, and two of Hoede’s personal guards, Rutger and Henk, tease Joost about his crush and send him to go check on the Grisha workshop. Only one of Hoede’s three Grisha indentures, Retvenko, is there. Retvenko implies that one of the indentures, Yuri, isn’t quarantined with an illness like Joost thought: Hoede fetched him a few nights ago and did something to make him fall ill and vanish forever. Now, Retvenko implies, the same thing is going to happen to Anya. A Squaller who can control the wind, Retvenko sends Joost flying backward and slams the workshop door in Joost’s face.
While Joost is busy thinking about Anya, this passage helps readers understand information important to the story to follow. First, Grisha—people who have special powers—are indentured in this world, and they seem to have very little power in this system. (It’s implied that Yuri, and perhaps Anya, are seen as disposable, and this is why they disappear.) However, Grisha aren’t powerless, as Retvenko demonstrates. And in general, something fishy is going on if Grisha are disappearing after wealthy men do something to them.
Themes
Joost is embarrassed—even more so when he realizes that Rutger watched the whole thing. Rutger reminds Joost that as guards, they outrank the Grisha, who are just “treasured possessions.” Rutger tells Joost to follow him to the boathouse. Inside, Councilman Hoede’s personal guards and stadwatch members stand around a steel box with a window in it. Anya is inside with a terrified little boy and a stadwatch member. Moments later, Hoede enters the box. Joost and the gathered guards hear him soothe the boy and warn Anya to do as she’s told. He then comes back out and assures a mercher Joost doesn’t recognize that Anya will be fine—she’s a Healer and has a “sweet disposition,” unlike the Fabrikator. Still, Hoede confirms that if this goes badly, the Merchant Council will compensate him for his loss.
Again, the novel reminds readers of Grisha’s lowly state in this fantastical world, as they’re “treasured possessions” rather than people. The passage drives this home yet again at the end, when Hoede confirms that he’ll be compensated if something happens to Anya—he wants to make sure his “treasured possession” loses value. In addition, Hoede seems to see Anya as more pliant due to her specific power: she’s a Healer, or a magical doctor of sorts.
Themes
Then, the stadwatch cuts the boy’s arm, and Hoede tells Anya to heal him. She does so quickly. The guard cuts the boy’s arm again, and Hoede tells Anya to ingest the parem, some substance in a wax paper envelope. He won’t tell her what it is, but he explains they’re trying to understand how the drug affects Grisha. Anya takes it. As she begins to say that the parem is just like sweet jurda (a harmless stimulant everyone takes), her eyes go wide, and she heals the boy with a wave of her hand. Next, Hoede tells the stadwatch to cut the boy’s thumb off. As the boy screams, Anya tells the stadwatch to shoot the glass. The stadwatch does so. Joost is afraid—this isn’t what Corporalki are supposed to be able to do. They heal or hurt people; they don’t control minds.
This episode is disturbing for both Joost and for readers as Hoede lords his power over both Anya and the terrified little boy. The boy’s (seemingly forced) involvement further shows what the power structure is like here; it’s certainly no accident that Hoede chooses a random little boy for Anya to heal rather than, say, himself. At first, Anya seems as yielding and cooperative as Hoede suggests she’d be. But then, the true power of jurda comes to light: in fact, she can control people now and, perhaps, take revenge for the abuse she’s suffered.
Themes
Along with all the other guards, Joost stands and points his rifle at Anya. But as Hoede tells the stadwatch not to shoot (Anya is valuable and should just be restrained), Anya tells everyone to wait. Suddenly, Joost isn’t afraid. In fact, he’s perfectly happy to do just as Anya asked. Anya picks up the boy and then tells Hoede to enter the box. As he enters, Anya tells the boy not to look. Then she tells Hoede to pick up the knife.
At this point, the parem seems truly magical and empowering—for the Grisha, not for those who seek to control them, like Hoede.
Themes
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