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Chapter Twenty-Nine
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 walks to Amari’s room in the elder quarters, thinking of the almost 200 maji and divîners they have to feed. The new arrivals all bring stories of the monarchy’s power. Zélie can hear Amari crying inside, but Tzain opens the door. Zélie breezes in and says that they have an elder meeting. She finds Amari in front of the mirror, trying to dab pigment onto her face to conceal bruises with her left hand. Her right arm is in a sling. Zélie points out that a Healer could help, but Amari says that five Healers refused. This is against the Healer code. Zélie sits down to help with the concealer. Amari looks sad and alone. She says that she tried to visit Ramaya and apologize, but Ramaya hasn’t woken up yet. She asks in a small voice if Zélie hates her.
For Zélie, duty calls—she and Amari are elders, so they naturally must attend the meetings and deal with business. Amari, however, doesn’t understand how she got here and why everyone is so angry with her, so the prospect of sitting down with a bunch of people who seem to hate her is understandably unappealing. That five Healers refused to help Amari shows just how entrenched the prejudice and hatred is between maji and the monarchy, especially since they’re not supposed to refuse anyone the help they need.
Themes
Zélie hates the question, but feels responsible for Ramaya’s fate since she’s the one who taught Amari an incantation. She reminds Amari that Amari promised to not use the Yoruba against the maji, but Amari insists she had no choice. Zélie spits that Amari always has a choice, and she chose to win at any cost like Saran and Inan. Amari sobs and says she doesn’t know how to fix this, which makes Zélie sigh. She knows that Amari doesn’t get it because she’s not a maji. Zélie explains that magic isn’t about power. It’s an intrinsic part of the maji, and maji have suffered and died for it. It’s not something Amari can just learn, and now, maji are still suffering—while tîtáns use magic against them. Amari agrees to apologize and make things right.
It’s still debatable whether Amari fully comprehends what Zélie is telling her, as it seems that truly understanding where she went wrong would likely mean respectfully turning over the title of elder to a maji and figuring out how to help in other ways. Zélie’s explanation is still an admirable attempt, and is especially commendable given how little open communication there is between characters in the novel. This is one of the few times when people who are upset and fighting sit down and try to understand, showing that it is indeed possible to do so.
Themes
