The Young Elites

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of child abuse, child death, graphic violence, illness and death, emotional abuse, and physical abuse.

The author represents society both in the “mob mentality” of crowds gathered for public events and in the reactions of a few relatively undeveloped tertiary characters (e.g., Adelina’s father and Giulietta). Society has a strong influence over the development of the “monsters” in the story. Considering how uniformly cruel the populace and these characters are regarding malfettos, their influence on Adelina, Teren, and Violetta creates an underlying situational irony: Judging malfettos as “monsters” feeds their monstrous traits.

The “mob mentality” of Kenettran citizenry and their judgment of the “monsters” among them is most apparent in scenes from Adelina’s first-person viewpoint. She witnesses those gathered for her execution and their heartless jeers and insults—though they have no facts about the supposed “murder” she committed. Crowd members also have little emotional control at the horse race, and their innate morbid curiosity drives them to watch Teren’s burning of three young malfettos. In each situation, the crowd’s fear and unrest feed Adelina’s energies; their negativity sustains her ability to cast monstrous illusions. The crowd has no idea of the real interplay between forces; their aspersions against malfettos directly feed Adelina’s growing internal darkness, symbolizing how the unchecked emotions of an ignorant citizenry drive monstrosity.