74 pages • 2 hours read
Victoria AveyardRed Queen
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
Appearance Versus Reality
The characters in Red Queen keep secrets and struggle with defining themselves, both internally and to others. Often, they find that their outward appearance doesn’t match who they truly are. Through Mare’s struggles as a Red with powers, Cal’s uncertainty about which path to take, and Maven’s betrayal, Red Queen posits that who a person is inside doesn’t always match what they show the world.
Mare is different on the inside than she appears. Literally, she is a Red girl with Silver-like powers, which forces her into roles she doesn’t agree with. As she lies and pretends to be something she’s not, she finds herself being “Red in the head, Silver in the heart” (95). This means she thinks like a Red but is forced to portray emotions as a Silver would, including showing disdain for Reds. While Mare appears confident, she truly fears for her life, and her survival depends on her ability to be different on the outside than she is on the inside.
Cal also struggles with showing his true face to the world. As the crown prince, Cal should be certain and powerful, unwavering in his portrayal of supremacy and confidence. Cal does not believe he is above anyone, including Reds, but his actions make others believe he feels superior, especially Mare, who waffles about Cal’s true intentions all the way to the end of the book. Cal makes decisions based on what he believes will do the least harm to the least amount of people, but he also tries to protect those he cares about, even if doing so means harming those who have done nothing wrong. While Cal’s survival doesn’t depend on his ability to match his internal and external selves like Mare’s does, any moments of weakness are captured and used against him at the end of the book, showing how Silver society thrives on exposing a person’s vulnerabilities.
Unlike Cal and Mare, Maven intentionally hides his true self. Instead of struggling with his beliefs, Maven knows what he wants and shows whatever face necessary to make sure he gets it. After his betrayal, Maven’s internal and external selves match. His actions and goals align, which makes him appear powerful, but he ultimately loses to Cal and Mare. Cal and Mare question themselves and grow as people as a result. They are works in progress who seek to match their internal and external selves. By contrast, Maven is stagnant and single-minded. Red Queen shows that it is all right if a person’s internal and external selves don’t completely match. Striving toward self-actualization keeps us attuned to possibility and sensitive to the needs of others, which Maven lacks.
Similarity and Difference
Throughout Red Queen, Mare and others put an emphasis on the differences between Reds and Silvers. As Mare spends more time among the Silvers, though, she starts to see how they are more like Reds than she thought. Through Julian’s teachings, Mare’s observations, and Mare and Cal’s character arcs, Red Queen shows how divided groups have important similarities.
Julian is the first character to suggest that Reds and Silvers are alike. He doesn’t believe Silvers are superior to Reds, and he cautions Mare against thinking that all Silvers are evil. Silvers, like Reds, are people. As a Red, Mare only saw the opulence and power surrounding Silvers. Only after going to the palace does she learn there are Silvers like Julian who believe in equality and that what the Silvers do to Reds is wrong. Julian’s teachings prove there are Silvers who care about Reds.
Mare’s experiences with Julian and other Silvers shows her how similar she is to the Silvers. Like her, Cal feels torn about who he is and what he thinks is best. He is a prince while Mare is working class, but they are both just trying to find their ways through the world. While Maven’s emotions are largely an act, his frustration with his father and Cal is real, as is his love for Elara and Elara’s for him. Mare sees her own family reflected in the royal family. Like Gisa, Cal is the favored child, which causes frustration in other members of his family. Mare sometimes wished that her parents would show her more support, and while Maven takes this idea to an extreme, much of his betrayal is motivated by feeling undervalued. Mare’s Red family and Cal’s Silver family are more alike than they are different, even though they live in very different worlds.
Mare and Cal’s character arcs mirror one another. Mare starts as a Red and Cal spends time in Red villages, which helps increase his understanding of how Red’s live. Among the Silvers, Mare feels as though she’s caught between her Red blood and the Silver act she plays. She initially wants to hate Cal because he’s Silver, but she comes to realize that being Silver doesn’t make him a bad person. As a future leader, Cal is faced with impossible decisions. He wants to do right by the Reds but sees the danger from other countries in doing so. He dislikes the pressure of being the future king and would rather be out making a difference for people, which leads Mare to see that she “can’t blame Cal for feeling caught between two worlds” because she feels the same way (323).
Reds and Silvers are more alike than Cal or Mare initially think. As she grows, Mare sees the similarities between Reds and Silvers and realizes that Silvers aren’t just power-hungry tyrants. She doesn’t agree with how they treat Reds and neither do many Silvers, showing how the two groups have more in common than it initially appeared.
The Influence of Parents on Children
Mare, Cal, and Maven have similar family dynamics, but each takes different things from their family and grows into a unique person. If their parents had treated them differently, they likely would have become very different people, showing how parents influence who their children become.
Mare feels overshadowed by Gisa. While Mare is older, Gisa is the golden child. Her skill at sewing makes her valuable to the Silvers and, thus, to Mare’s family. As an idle one without work, Mare feels her parents are disappointed in her. She knows they wish she was more like Gisa, and to her “there’s nothing that hurts more than that feeling” (231). As a result, Mare is driven and a hard worker, but she also has a rebellious side. If she can’t be as appreciated as Gisa, she may as well not even try. These sides to her personality, established by how her parents view her, lead her to be a fighter who’s willing to risk everything for Red freedom.
Cal is the golden child to his father because he is a brilliant tactician and a strong warrior, things his father views as important. Cal’s father places an enormous amount of responsibility on Cal’s shoulders to fill his shoes. Cal wants to make his father proud, but he also wants to live his life on his terms. He compromises by sneaking out of the palace to spend time in a lower pressure environment and then making decisions his father would approve of when it comes to the war.
Maven is caught between a parent who barely acknowledges him and a parent who expects the world of him. Like Mare, Maven is in the shadow of a sibling, but where Mare’s parents acknowledge her, Maven’s father often passes right over him. Maven’s constant desire to gain his father’s approval mixed with his mother’s unconditional, if angry, love lead Maven to become bitter. He wants to get back at his father for ignoring him, and he wants to do whatever he can to please his mother, the parent he owes everything to. Maven’s vulnerability made it easy for Elara to convince him that Cal and the king need to die. It’s possible Maven would have agreed with her anyway, but it’s equally likely that the plan was Elara’s and that Maven joined her because he wanted a way to show he was just as cunning and talented as Cal.
Maven, Cal, and Mare experience pressures from their parents, and those pressures bring out key points of their personalities. Mare and Cal feel enough love from their parents that both grow to care about their families, even if there are rough patches in the relationship. Maven let his feelings of inadequacy fester until they overtook him. Elara’s plan was the only thing that made him feel powerful, and he latched on to it to prove himself.
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