86 pages • 2 hours read
Leigh BardugoSix of Crows
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.
Symbols & Motifs
Jurda Parem
Jurda parem, a drug that gives Grisha the power to control others’ minds, to walk through walls, and to transform lead into gold, drives the plot of Six of Crows as well as illustrating the dangers of absolute power and greed. The mercher Jan Van Eck explains that jurda parem “seems to sharpen and hone a Grisha’s senses,” so that “things become possible that simply shouldn’t be” (48). A Grisha under the influence of jurda parem can compel a man to chop off his own finger; the drug becomes an ominous, inhuman element that inspires fear and dread. Anyone who controls parem can control the world. Although Kaz and his crew agree to retrieve the scientist with the formula for parem for their personal gain, they also understand that the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
The symbol of jurda parem becomes even more formidable as “the drug clearly came with a price” (48), and a high one: The drug can cause addiction with only one dose, making it almost inconceivably powerful, and withdrawal symptoms usually lead to death. This contradiction—a Grisha made inhumanly strong by the drug then left desperately weak without it—adds complexity to the drug as a symbol of power. When Nina takes parem to save herself and her friends, she appears as if a “god’s power flowed through her” (424), and she is able to command an entire army. Once the drug wears off, she becomes too weak to stand, in so much pain that “her skin felt like an enemy” (435).
The drug’s other association—greed—becomes clear when the Dregs learn that Van Eck wanted the power of jurda parem for himself. Van Eck has been buying all the jurda fields he can; once he has the formula for parem, he will be the world’s “very wealthy master” (446). Van Eck knows he can capitalize on the rest of the world’s desire for power— “every government will be clamoring” for parem (446)—to feed his own greed. He doesn’t care about the lives of the Grisha, of Kaz and his friends, and of the many others who might be destroyed in the process. Although jurda parem is a destructive drug, in the end it is only a tool. True destruction comes from the greed, power, and ruthlessness parem enables—qualities that are wielded by humans.
Magic Tricks and Sleight of Hand
Kaz’s fascination with magic tricks led to his brother Jordie’s downfall; young Kaz convinced Jordie to take him to see a magician near the gambling hall where his brother fell for a cruel scam. Just as Kaz chose to conquer the brutal, crime-ridden Barrel that destroyed his family, he also masters magicians’ trickery and uses his skill to craft a more powerful image.
Before his brother’s death, Kaz was already obsessed with sleight of hand: The mystery of how a magician made a coin disappear “kept him up at night” (207). After Jordie’s demise, Kaz goes much further, realizing “a good magician wasn’t much different from a proper thief” (315), using sleight of hand to steal, cheat while gambling, and take others by surprise. Kaz’s skill contributes to his formidable reputation in the Barrel, and he graduates to a more advanced form of magic trick, one involving the mind. He trades in information, stealing intel and using it to take down his enemies. He also gathers others skilled at trickery to his cause, such as Inej, whose acrobatic skill allows her to move so silently she can “simply erase herself” (40).
The Dregs’ quest throughout the novel—to break a prisoner out of the most secure fortress in the world—is itself a magic trick, and Kaz uses mental trickery to devise a plan. Inej also uses her skill in almost superhuman ways, climbing up a hot incinerator shaft, while Jesper employs his sharp-shooting skills, Wylan his genius with bomb-making, and Jesper and Nina their Grisha magic. Their group magic trick works, but in the end, the Dregs find themselves victims of another trick, as the mercher who sent them on the prison mission double-crosses them and kidnaps Inej. In the final pages of the novel, Matthias observes that Kaz is “digging in [his] bag of tricks” again (455), as he concocts a scheme to get Inej back and take revenge on the merchant.
Pigeons and Crows
Near the opening of Six of Crows, Kaz remembers his and his brothers’ first days in the big city and “hate[s] the boys they’d been, two stupid pigeons waiting to be plucked” (71). “Pigeon” is the gang members’ term for an innocent to be duped and taken advantage of; Jesper tells newbie Wylan about “The mark, the pigeon, the cozy, the fool you’re looking to fleece” (126). Kaz distances himself from the “pigeon” he once was by taking on the symbolism of a different bird: the dark, wily crow who fends for himself and always comes out on top. Kaz names his business venture the Crow Club, the Dregs’ gang tattoo includes an image of a crow, and Kaz’s cane has a carved crow on top. The cane, which should represent Kaz’s weakness, becomes a symbol of his ability to use wits and trickery to come out on top. Thus, the crow marks his transformation from prey to creature of power.
Taking the novel’s bird symbolism further, the author describes the Ice Court prison as “one big white pigeon ready for the plucking” (128)—and Kaz and his co-conspirators successfully pluck that pigeon, using trickery to complete their quest. In one final twist, the merchant who contracted Kaz’s services kidnaps Kaz’s right hand, Inej, and once again makes Kaz the pigeon rather than the crow. Kaz considers himself “dumber than a pigeon fresh off the boat” to have been duped by Van Eck (453), and he vows to take revenge as the novel ends.
No Mourners, No Funerals
Throughout Six of Crows, the Dregs repeat the call-and-response phrase “no mourners, no funerals” as a good-luck recitation before missions. The phrase becomes a motif that indicates a dangerous situation is about to take place, increasing suspense throughout the novel. The meaning of the words—the idea that the gang members won’t stop to miss or honor those who die—adds deeper dimension to the repeated phrase, illustrating the cruel world in which these characters live.
While the main characters of the novel are only teenagers, they’ve already witnessed, been victims to, and perpetrated acts of violence. Many have lost family members and friends to war and crime. To survive, the characters have had to harden themselves, trusting no one and putting their own interests first, so they will have no more losses to mourn. Over the course of the novel, the main characters come to care for each other deeply, to the point where they risk their own safety for one another. When the phrase appears later in the novel, it transforms into a reminder that their group is “bound together.” Even Matthias, who considers himself above gang culture, “mutter[s] the words softly” along with the others (332). The motto expresses camaraderie and a deeper connection that brings the novel’s young protagonists together and helps them survive in a violent world.
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