Previous
Chapter 29: 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
Eight weeks after the party, Roxy has disappeared. Allie has spoken to Darrell on video chat; he looks terrible. He’s been looking constantly for her in the countryside. Allie is worried, while Tatiana is convinced that Roxy has betrayed her to North Moldova. Tatiana is unpredictable; at times she seems to trust Eve—even signing a law making her the de facto leader if Tatiana is incapacitated. But often she is violent and paranoid. Civil war is spreading around the country as a result of the new laws.
Each of these characters (and the world as a whole) starts to experience the real downside of their desire for power. Roxy is weak and barely alive; Tatiana is paranoid; Allie is lonely; and Darrell is dealing with illness in the aftermath of his operation. Power has corrupted them all to the point where they are unsatisfied with what they have, and their efforts to get more power have only left them less secure.
Themes
Allie misses Roxy. She prays to the Holy Mother to bring her safely home. The voice says, “I can’t make any promises.” Worried she has become too attached to Roxy, Allie tells herself to stop thinking about Roxy: she has to cut off this part of herself. She feels afraid and unsafe, and remembers that “the only way to be safe is to own the place.”
It is appropriate that when Allie prays to the Holy Mother, the voice answers in this way. Allie has convinced herself that she has faith and that there is a God watching over her, but in reality the voice’s identity has always been ambiguous, and is likely just her own mind trying to comfort her. She has manipulated herself into thinking that the voice can help her, when in reality it is merely a comfort.
Themes
One evening, Tatiana calls for Eve very late. She’s been having bad dreams, and Eve comes to soothe her. Eve takes her hand, feeling the nerve endings in her brain. She gives the smallest pressure on a few neurons to soothe her. Allie figures that eventually, more people will learn how to do this; they will learn that “the ability to hurt is only the beginning.”
This is the first instance in which Allie dabbles in mind control. She recognizes that to hurt someone is just a way to manipulate them, and manipulation is perhaps even more powerful than simply inspiring pain and fear.
Themes
Allie tells Tatiana, “I think you’d like to sign these papers now, wouldn’t you?” Tatiana nods, drowsily, and signs papers allowing the Church to try its own cases and enforce its own statutes in the border regions. Allie tells the voice, “I’ll take the country. And then I’ll be safe.”
Allie demonstrates once more how the ability to manipulate others (whether concerning religion or otherwise) extends her influence, this time far enough to let her control an entire country.
Themes
Get the entire The Power LitChart as a printable PDF.
