Previous
Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Girl Who Drank the Moon, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Family and Love
Storytelling, Censorship, and Control
Memory, Forgetting, and the Future
Sorrow vs. Hope
Summary
Analysis
On the morning of the Day of Sacrifice, Grand Elder Gherland takes his time checking his reflection in the mirror. He loves his mirror, the only one in the Protectorate, and he feels it’s important to give the populace a show. The Protectorate sits between a dangerous forest and a huge bog, which provides a meager livelihood for most people. They can harvest parts of the Zirin plant, as well as other magical plants, which are then transported to the Free Cities on the other side of the Forest via the Road. The Elders own the Road, which is the only safe passage through the forest. The Elders also own the Bog, the houses, and the gardens, which is why they’re rich and fat. The people can only hope that the Bog will save them.
Gherland’s love of pomp and circumstance, combined with the fact that as an Elder, he owns nearly everything in the Protectorate, situates him as someone in love with his title and all that it brings him. The narration shows clearly that the general populace is poor and has access to few real resources, while the Elders have access to natural resources as well as manual laborers. This shows some of the reasons why the Elders want to promote stories like the parent’s from the last chapter: it keeps them in power, and the population hopeless.
Themes
Gherland hears a knock on the door. His annoyingly enthusiastic nephew, Antain, bursts in. Antain is an Elder-in-Training because Antain’s mother, a ridiculous woman, begged Gherland to take him on. Gherland is fond of Antain, but Antain has a habit of asking questions and if he continues, Gherland will have to deal with him. Gherland snaps for Antain to calm down. Antain says that the other Elders are ready and the populace is assembled along the route. Nobody is shirking after last year. This saddens Gherland; he likes teaching the people lessons.
Gherland’s fondness for Antain makes it clear that despite his many horrible traits, Gherland is capable of feeling love and affection for another person. This makes him a more relatable villain and suggests that everyone, villain or not, is capable of feeling love. Gherland’s desire to teach people lessons, meanwhile, shows again that he’s drunk on his power and will probably do anything to keep it.
Themes
Usually, the Day of Sacrifice is solemn and goes off without a hitch. Sad parents hand over their babies. This year looks different. Gherland frowns when he hears the mother howling from a street away. At the family’s house, a man outside has a bloody and scratched face. He apologizes and says that his wife seems mad. Inside, the mother hangs from the rafters, nursing her baby and shrieking threats at the Elders. They stare at her openmouthed; nobody ever fights for the sacrificial child. Antain begins to cry but tries to hide it.
When the narrator notes that nobody ever fights for the sacrificial child, it’s worth asking why this is. Remember the parent’s story to their child: it’s likely that parents in the Protectorate believe there’s simply no chance that they’ll be successful, so they resign themselves to their grief and don’t fight for their children. This woman’s resistance, then, suggests that there is some room for people to hope for a better life.
Themes
Gherland pretends to be compassionate and clarifies that the Elders aren’t taking the baby; the Witch is taking the baby. When the mother growls again, Gherland tells the man that his wife is mad and needs care. The mother climbs higher in the rafters and says that if the Elders take her daughter, she’ll find her daughter and steal her back. Gherland laughs at the idea of anyone taking on the Witch and calls in the guards. The guards, trained Sisters of the Star, quickly separate mother and baby, and take the mother to the Tower.
By making it very clear that he’s not actually at fault here, Gherland uses storytelling to his advantage to mold the truth. Of course the Elders are taking this woman’s baby; this fact isn’t negated by the Elders passing the baby along to someone else. Blaming the Witch, however, allows Gherland to align himself with this mother as a victim of the practice.
Themes
Get the entire The Girl Who Drank the Moon LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Sisters hand the baby to Gherland. The baby whimpers for a moment and then stares solemnly at him. Her gaze makes him uncomfortable. He notices that the baby has a crescent moon-shaped birthmark on her forehead which, according to lore, means that she’s special. Gherland hates lore, especially when it lets people think that they’re better than they actually are. The baby sticks out her tongue and then urinates, offending Gherland and wetting his robes. Gherland leads the Elders through the town with the baby.
Gherland’s hatred of lore that makes people think that they’re special shows that he understands the power of stories—even questionably true legends, as his tone regarding lore implies. For Gherland, it’s dangerous if the population thinks that they’re special, as they might then pull stunts like this woman did and try to fight for their babies.
Themes
Outside the city walls, the Elders begin to move quickly. Nobody likes being in the dangerous forest. They follow a trail until they reach a hollow surrounded by five sycamore trees. Gherland isn’t sure if he remembers right how many trees there are, as this year, there are six. He chalks it up to nervousness and sets the baby down. The Elders turn to retreat, but Antain asks if they really just leave the baby. He suggests that they should wait to make sure the Witch gets the baby, rather than wild animals. Gherland shuts Antain down and leads him back to the Protectorate. The narrator explains that the Elders all know that animals will get the baby, as there is no witch. Belief in the Witch keeps people subdued, frightened, and sad, which allows the Elders to keep control.
The revelation that there is no witch who demands a sacrifice shows clearly that the Elders simply use the story and the Day of Sacrifice as a way to maintain control over the Protectorate. In other words, they rely on the power of storytelling to feed the population a tale designed to stoke their fears and make them sad, which in turn makes them less likely to ask questions. After all, they need to constantly be able to appease the Witch. Antain’s question and his youthful idealism suggest that questioning like this is something that, if Antain continues, has the power to change things.
Themes
