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Chapter Eleven
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
Nailah gallops wildly and Zélie feels stupid for trusting the gods’ plan. She doesn’t think she can trust them anymore. She begins to pray for Mama to take her back to alafia and screams the prayer. Zélie thinks that magic isn’t enough anymore, but then she thinks of losing Tzain and Amari. Suddenly, Nailah bursts out of the forest. There’s a sheer cliff straight ahead, and Zélie yanks Nailah to the side so they don’t go over. Zélie flies off and slams into a tree. Nailah licks her face as Zélie feels her broken ribs and asks Mama to take her again. When she opens her eyes, she sees reeds.
Though in the last chapter magic made Zélie want to leave, now she realizes that dealing with magic is the price she has to pay if she wants to continue to live in the same world as Tzain and Amari. In other words, her love for and connection to her living family members is strong enough to begin to reinvigorate Zélie’s will to live, even if she promptly loses that will again thanks to the pain of her fall.
Themes
