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
Tzain and Amari search in vain for Zélie on the scorched, corpse-strewn field. Inan isn’t there either, and Amari is forced to consider he may have betrayed them. Tzain breaks down, saying that he failed his parents. He broke his promise to protect Zélie.
Amari has chosen to renounce her parents and their ways, but she is forced to confront the possibility that her brother has not actually changed. Meanwhile, Tzain feels like he has let his own parents down by losing track of Zélie, emphasizing his belief that family loyalty should come above all else.
Themes
Watching Tzain mourn Zélie, Amari is wracked with shame. She wonders how many families her father, King Saran, has destroyed like this, and how much she is to blame. The thought galvanizes her. She tells Tzain the guards likely took Zélie to a nearby fortress. She has a plan to break in. She will be strong.
Even though she has rejected her father’s views, Amari still feels responsible for the pain he has caused because of their shared blood. She decides that the only way to truly renounce her connection to him is by directly fighting him.
Themes
