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Chapter Seventy-Six
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Children of Virtue and Vengeance, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Power and Systems of Oppression
Cycles of Violence
Tradition and History
Love vs. Duty
Summary
Analysis
Zélie’s eyes open. She doesn’t know where she is. People pull her over the edge of the well and someone takes the baby from her. An old woman re-bandages Zélie’s leg and thanks Zélie for saving them. Zélie asks for Roën. The woman points Zélie to a dwelling. Healers surround him. Zélie tries to toss off the woman, but the woman says that Zélie is just like Mama. Zélie is surprised the woman knew Mama. She looks around and sees the survivors grieving over bodies. She wonders why Amari would do this. Amari walks into the square and crumples. Zélie follows Amari’s gaze to a message reading that the monarchy has the rest of the Iyika forces. The Iyika will die if the elders don’t surrender.
Even if this woman is unnamed, she’s still an important person for Zélie to meet: she shows Zélie that Zélie still has a home here and a community. Because of this, Zélie’s main family may be with the Iyika right now, but she has even more people to call on who celebrate the maji and Zélie’s family specifically. The realization that Nehanda and Inan tricked the Iyika drives home the consequences of Amari’s quest for power: innocent people died for no reason.
Themes
