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Chapter One
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
Amari watches Baba’s casket burn and thinks of how her father, Saran, used to say that Orïsha waits for no one. She remembers killing him and thinks that she couldn’t bury him if she wanted to. She, Zélie, and Tzain head back to the warship, and Amari vows to herself to take the throne and fix Saran’s mistakes. In the captain’s quarters—the only place on the ship without majacite—Amari insists she’s too nervous to eat. They sent word to Amari’s mother, Queen Nehanda, a few weeks ago, asking for her support. They haven’t heard back yet. Tzain reassures Amari and then goes to check on Zélie, which makes Amari’s stomach clench. She’s struggling to contain her grief for Saran and her brother, Inan.
Offering narration from Amari’s perspective as well as Zélie’s allows the reader to understand that Amari suffers pain and grief over her family, just like Zélie does. Notice how Amari continually thinks of Saran’s various catchphrases even though she clearly doesn’t think highly of his actions, given that she wants to fix his mistakes. However, her dislike of Saran doesn’t mean that she can’t grieve him, showing that knowing one’s duty doesn’t mean one can’t experience difficult, possibly contrary emotions about fulfilling it.
Themes
The foreign mercenary Roën enters the room and offers fish to Nailah, Zélie’s lionaire. Then, he tells Amari that there was an attack on the capital city, Lagos. The attackers are maji called the Iyika, and no one has heard from Queen Nehanda. People believe the royal line is dead. Roën explains that the Iyika are killing nobles, and the new admiral is hunting maji. Amari knows that if war breaks out again, Orïsha will fall apart. Amari says that she’ll publically announce her rule. When she asks Roën for help, he points out that Amari owes him money and gives her one night to pay. Amari turns to Tzain and Zélie and points out that if Zélie asks Roën, he might help them save the maji, but Zélie insists she can’t carry this weight forever. Zélie agrees to go when Amari points out that Baba died for this cause.
Amari is quick to identify that war will tear Orïsha apart. This detail is significant, as it shows that everyone knows violence is dangerous and isn’t the right way to solve things—all it leads to is more death. Zélie’s comment that she can’t carry the weight of the maji forever speaks to the difficulty and outright trauma of having to consistently be the victim of all this violence and do the work to fix it. Being in that position is exhausting for Zélie, in addition to traumatizing and consistently disheartening.
Themes
