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
Jesper has been trying to break a link in the chain for 30 minutes, and he’s exhausted and panicking. He suggests they just trigger Black Protocol another way, and then he can shoot their way out. He tells Wylan he loves guns because they’re so satisfying. Wylan admits he doesn’t actually like chemistry: he prefers music, numbers, and equations. He dislikes words too, as they “get mixed up.” Jesper ascertains that Wylan is gay. But just then, the Elderclock chimes: they’ve run out of time. They crank the gate up and within moments, the Black Protocol alarm sounds. The chain still isn’t broken, so Jesper and Wylan hang from it until, finally, it snaps. Jesper pulls out a gun as Wylan works on the winch.
Jesper implies that guns are easy and make sense to him, but he still struggles to make sense of his power. This reflects his lack of education as a Grisha. Wylan’s extensive education, though, doesn’t mean he likes or is good at everything. As the two work together to damage the chain, it symbolically proves the novel’s insistence that when friends work together, they can accomplish more than they could alone. This also shows that Wylan and Jesper are now friends, not just boys whose circumstances have brought them together.
Themes
