Week Seven: Children of Blood and Bone (5 pts)

 Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone makes race and class one in the same, examining how power and brutality affect minority communities and their struggle to continue surviving. Zelie, the protagonist, has lived the reality of oppression for most of her life and, after a chance encounter, is given the means to mend the broken diviner/maji community through restoring magic to Orisha. Throughout her journey alongside her brother Tzain and Amari, Zelie witnesses time and time again the not so black and white nature of power and people. Her journey starts as opportunistic, but slowly becomes deadly and confusing as she learns more about magic and the world she lives in.


Inan, who is Amari’s brother and prince of Orisha, represents this struggle as he tries to please his father’s wishes but also live true to himself. It is revealed that both he and Amari have magic in them. While he denies this part of himself and fuels his own prejudice against Maji, he only further ends up hurting himself and others by not attempting to understand his powers. The bulk of King Saran’s argument against the Maji lies in their incredible powers which pose a true danger to the non-magical Kosidan. Inan sees this in full and chooses to, despite his seeming change to be a ‘fair ruler,’ destroy the scroll that could bring magic back to Orisha. However, both he and Saran neglect to see the own hurt and oppression they are instituting on the Maji. 


There’s a distinct power struggle here that prevents either side from peace, and the Kosidan refuse to acknowledge their part in it. Rather, they choose to be ‘protectors’ of Orisha instead of its oppressor. Inan begins to see this, but shies away even though his own father turns against him. Zelie, however, embraces this and acts to restore magic despite her perhaps sacrificing her own life. The institution enacted to oppress her people needs to go in its entirety if Orisha is to heal and prosper in the future. Inan wants everyone to come together, without understanding the power that allows him that simple viewpoint. 


These themes are rooted in the struggles activists fight to amend. While this is the novel’s throughline, there are also great moments of development for the adolescent characters the novels follow. All of them recognize their world as broken, but each still actively seek the approval of the adults that live and thrive within. Their development into near adulthood by the end of the novel work in tandem with the themes to present Zelie and Amari as passionate, changed individuals who will continue to fight for change in their world. Seeing that realized within this novel was emotional for me, but in the best way possible.


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