Children of Virtue and Vengeance

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2019

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-15

Chapters 16-29

Chapters 30-42

Chapters 43-57

Chapters 58-81

Chapter 82-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

Love Versus Duty

Many characters in the novel struggle to balance personal feelings with professional obligations. Each one has what they see as a “duty,” whether to Orïsha, to the maji, or to the royals, as well as their own personal feelings for their friends, their family, and those they love. Similarly, each one struggles to balance the two in order to live a fulfilling life.

Inan and Amari were both taught by their parents that their duty to their country must come before their personal feelings. Despite the trauma inflicted on them by their father, they both still hear his words and wish to make him proud, hearing his mantra of “[d]uty before self” as they make decisions for the monarchy (275). For Inan, this means that he needs to do what he can to secure his position as king and his mother’s as queen. For his duty, he sacrifices his relationship with his sister as well as his love for Zélie, ultimately choosing to allow his mother to rule; he follows along with her plans because he sees it as the easiest way to end the war. Amari, whose attempts at peace are repeatedly rebuffed, believes that her duty to Orïsha means winning the war at all costs and taking the throne. She is willing to sacrifice a village of people and even her love for Zélie in order to win the war. In the end, both Inan and Amari come to the same conclusion: The “duty” that they have been fighting for all along was just the beliefs of their mother and father. They both realize that what is best for Orïsha is to put an end to the monarchy.

For Zélie, love and duty are largely equivalent. She feels as though she has a duty to the maji—especially after she is made the Reaper Elder—and truly loves the people she fights alongside. However, she also struggles with all the loss that she has suffered in her life. As a result, she considers fleeing Orïsha and abandoning her duty at several points in the novel. After she fails to convince the maji to flee with her, convinced that they cannot defeat Nehanda, she comes close to allowing herself to die. She repeatedly tells herself to “[l]et go” when she is trapped in the water (328), thinking of how much joy she found in her mother’s embrace when she died before. She realizes here that the duty she feels does not outweigh the loss that she has felt. However, as she thinks of her pain, she also thinks of the people she has not lost—the ones who still live. In her words, “The pain is too much to take, yet the same agony spurs me on. […] Tzain. Amari. Roën. If I die now, they don’t stand a chance. Live” (330). With these thoughts, Zélie fights for her survival; she makes it to the surface and then returns to save Roën. Ultimately, for Zélie, love and duty are about sacrifice, as she must fulfill her duty to the maji while living with the sacrifices she makes along the way.

The novel highlights the fact that duty and love often clash with each other, at least when these two ideals are not aligned. To achieve personal growth, each character must realize that the “duty” they are trying to fulfill is not what is best and instead find balance in protecting the ones they love while simultaneously doing what is best for their country.

The Cyclical Nature of Violence

The cyclical nature of violence is one of the central themes of the text, as well as the series. As the previous novel ends with violence—the death of the king, Baba, and dozens of others in the ritual to bring back magic—the sequel begins on the aftereffects of that violence as Zélie and Tzain perform a burial ritual for their father. The cycle repeats itself throughout the novel, as characters resort to violence to stop violence, ultimately begetting more destruction and death.

Several characters struggle with the effect that violence has on their lives, including Zélie, who has seen the death of her mother, dozens of other magi, and her entire village at the hands of the monarchy. As a result, she becomes fixated on exacting revenge on Inan and the monarchy. She is willing to use whatever means necessary to get that revenge, including putting the lives of maji at stake to get more power. When she violently attacks Inan after discovering that he is alive, she also casts aside any chance at peace. Instead of finding an alternative to violence, she yearns to be “free” and escape from Orïsha entirely.

At first, Inan and Amari attempt to bring peace to Orïsha by bringing the monarchy and the maji together. However, they fail to understand the impact that violence and destruction have had on the maji over generations and cannot grasp why peace would never be an option for them. As a result, when their attempts at peace fail, they turn to violence to physically stop the maji. Although it can be argued that Inan does not actively fight against the maji himself, he allows his mother to control his actions as king and therefore perpetuates that violence. Conversely, Amari herself actively chooses to kill an entire village of innocent people to bring an end to the war.

In the end, the three protagonists break free from the cycle of violence to bring forth a better Orïsha. Zélie realizes that she and the maji need to use their magic in a way that causes the least amount of damage and focuses solely on toppling the monarchy, as they do when they overthrow the palace; Inan recognizes the truly evil nature of his mother and kills her with poison, and then he becomes willing to sacrifice himself to the maji to put an end to the monarchy; and Amari realizes that she must willingly sacrifice herself to fulfill the moonstone ritual, understanding that, just like her brother, the unjust monarchy system will do nothing but continue to create oppression and more violence.

The Blurred Line Between Good and Evil

Many characters in the novel believe that the difference between good and evil is clear; however, they discover that the issue is much more nuanced, with most people having elements of good and evil within them.

From the start of the novel, Zélie blames Inan for her father’s death and his betrayal of the maji, convinced that he is evil. Thus, she becomes fixated on exacting her revenge. She refuses to listen to him when he attempts to apologize or discuss peace, and she fails to understand his perspective—that he wants to protect his family and that he believed that what he was doing was right. Because the reader sees Inan’s perspective, they understand that his intentions were not driven out of evil but instead out of a desire to lead everyone in Orïsha. In their final interaction in the text, Zélie hesitates when she has the opportunity to strike Inan with a fatal blow; this hesitation shows that she has finally begun to understand his reasoning.

Throughout much of the novel, Amari believes that her parents are evil. She becomes convinced that she will be a better king than her father was, ruling for all people and oppressing none. However, after she becomes entrenched in the war and experiences the destruction and death that come with it, she commits an act comparable to the raids when she kills innocent civilians. She thinks back to the morning of the raid, when her father seemed destitute, and considers how “[a]ll these years, [she’s] wondered how he must have felt. Today [she] fe[els] it [herself]” (349). This comparison shows not only that she has perpetuated the cycle of violence and carried on her father’s legacy but also that she now has a better understanding of who he was as a person. Originally thinking that he was entirely evil, she now understands that he did what he felt was necessary to save his country. By presenting multiple points of view in the text and giving Amari’s perspective, Adeyemi succeeds in blurring the line between good and evil.

Throughout the first novel and much of this one, King Saran is seen as the source of evil in the monarchy. He is blamed for the raid, and the maji consider him solely responsible for their oppression. However, he receives some redemption when it is discovered that his wife was the driving force behind the raid. This revelation creates nuance within Saran’s character, projecting him as less evil than he was portrayed to the public while also setting up Nehanda as a greater antagonist. Unlike other characters in the novel, who commit both good and bad deeds, Nehanda is driven only by her hate for the maji, causing the death of her husband’s entire family and the years of oppression in retaliation that followed. Her character, then, represents the problems that come with monarchy rule and why the characters work so desperately to overthrow it. Because of her hatred and her power, she is able to control the noble class, put them in positions of power, and keep them there through violence—an embodiment of all that is wrong with Orïsha.