When Son claims that Sydney, Ondine, Thérèse, and Gideon put Jadine through school, not Valerian, he’s suggesting that Jadine has only benefited from Valerian’s charity because other people have sacrificed their welfare and their dignity to put her in Valerian’s proximity. Without that sacrifice, Jadine would be no more empowered than Son, or like any of the people in Eloe, for that matter. Despite her fancy education, Jadine remains ignorant to how tenuous her hold on power really is. Son’s violence undermine his efforts to set Jadine right on matters of power and the abuse of power. Son’s violence toward Jadine is an abuse of power akin to Valerian’s exploitation of the island’s Black population.