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Chapter 21: Tunde
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Power, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Power and Violence
Corruption
Gender Reversals and Sexism
Stories, History, and Perspective
Religion and Manipulation
Revolution and Social Change
Summary
Analysis
Eve is on a stage in Bessapara in front of cameras and a large audience. A boy approaches named Christian, who hasn’t been able to walk since he was a child. She holds Christian’s hand and calls upon the Holy Mother. Allie feels the blockages in his spine with her power. She delivers three pinpricks to his spine and his muscles spring to life. He stiffly stands and takes three awkward steps, sobbing. Sometimes Allie’s cure sticks, but sometimes it doesn’t at all. The voice says that maybe if they had more faith, they would be cured for longer.
Allie continues to manipulate the facts surrounding the miracles she creates, in order to continue to gain support from followers in Bessapara. This deception enables her to maintain a great deal of power as she rises to the level of global religious icon. The explanation that the voice provides for why the cure might not stick further proves how Allie can truly manipulate any fact to support her own narrative.
Themes
Eve preaches to the crowd, saying she’s very happy to be in Bessapara, because the Holy Mother has told her that women should gather together. She brings up that she knows about the Goddess who has meant so much to those in Bessapara, with the eye in the palm of the hand. Eve lifts her hands to show the tattoos and the crowd explodes in cheers. She says that the Goddess is simply another way that the one God has expressed Herself. Good work, says the voice.
Allie manipulates yet another set of religious beliefs to suit her own needs. The fact that she argues that her religion encompasses all religions allows her to gain support from a variety of followers. And in fact, the symbol of this Goddess of Bessapara is already borrowed from another religion, as it is based on the Hand of Fatima.
Themes
On her way out of the building, Allie gets a message from Sister Maria Ignacia. They’ve been following the online chatter about Allie, and Allie had asked Sister Maria Ignacia to make the files on her case disappear. The email confirms that with the help of an influential friend, the files have disappeared. Allie knows that the friend must have been Roxy.
Allie and Roxy both use their influence to try to make sure that Allie can feel safe and protected from retribution, even at the risk of doing something illegal. Allie understands that she would likely not go to jail for her crime, but now she fears losing her influence more than anything.
Themes
Later, Allie and Tatiana Moskalev eat dinner together. They discuss the continued war, as Awadi-Atif is still funding the north Moldovans. Tatiana admits that with the new drug and the chemical weapons she has, she could easily destroy his army—but instead, she wants to humiliate his army.
Like Allie and several other characters, Tatiana has moved from wanting protection and equality to wanting absolute power over men. This is where corruption really starts to take hold in Alderman’s story.
Themes
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Allie recognizes that if Awadi-Atif wins, it would show that the change is merely a “minor deviation from the norm.” But if he loses, it would be a sign that the women are meant to be in power. The voice tells Allie that Tatiana wants her to bless this war, expressing hesitation. Allie reminds the voice that it told her that she could only be safe if she owned the place. The voice reminds her in turn that it said she “couldn’t get there from here.”
Allie is motivated by a constant sense of feeling unsafe. Due to the voice, she believes that the only way to feel safe is to “own the place,” which leads to her power-hungriness, her corruption, and her endorsement of wars. She doesn’t want equality or societal progress, simply power over men.
Themes
Eve gives an on-camera interview, addressing her followers. She explains that they already know what will happen if Awadi-Atif wins this war: what has happened in Saudi Arabia and Moldova for decades. She endorses the war, saying, “This war is God’s war. With Her help, we shall have a mighty victory. With Her help, everything will be overturned.” She sends the message out to her followers.
In addition to wanting power for herself and women worldwide, Eve also uses the power that she has gained from her followers to endorse this war and to make them believe that it is just.
Themes
