Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Children of Blood and Bone, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Prejudice and Inequality
Duty to Family vs. Self
Faith and Tradition
Cycles of Violence
Summary
Analysis
Zélie is awash with guilt. If she hadn’t tried to fight Inan, none of this would have happened. Tzain is always paying for her mistakes. She is filled with determination to defend her family. She sees Inan leaning winded against a tree. She can’t understand why he’s suppressing his magic, or why he’s not trying to fight her.
Zélie was trying to do the right thing by fighting Inan. She hoped that in fighting him, she would be one step closer to overthrowing the oppressive regime and protecting all divîners. But, as she was occupied, her family was in danger. Now, she feels that in trying to do the right thing, she actually betrayed her family.
Themes
Zélie is determined to find Tzain as quickly as possible. She slams her staff against the hand of the masked boy, crushing his bones, and she yells for him to tell her where Tzain is. She slashes and stabs at him with her dagger, threatening to kill him if she doesn’t get information. Inan yells at her to stop.
In this moment, all Zélie can think of is finding and protecting her brother. Once again, Zélie uses violence to combat violence. Here, she justifies the use of violence because she is doing it to try to protect her family.
Themes
