59 pages • 1 hour read
Tomi AdeyemiChildren of Blood and Bone
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Zélie’s Staff
In the first scene of the novel, Zélie graduates from Mama Agba’s secret self-defense school by performing well in a fight and standing up for her fellow divîners when the tax collectors arrive. As a token of her graduation, she receives a collapsible staff. Zélie studies it and describes:
Ancient symbols coat every meter of the black metal, each carving reminiscent of a lesson Mama Agba once taught. Like a bee to honey, my eyes find the akofena first, the crossed blades, the swords of war. Strength cannot always roar, she said that day. Valor does not always shine (19).
The staff carries the lessons that Zélie has learned while being educated in self-defense, serving as a reminder of her home, her culture, what she has been taught, and what she must overcome.
In addition to Zélie’s education and heritage, the staff represents her ability to protect herself. Before the awakening of her powers, the staff is the only thing she has to keep soldiers from harming her, and its collapsible design enables her to do so without drawing attention to herself. It grants her autonomy before the restoration of her magical abilities, and when she loses those abilities later in the book it helps her maintain a way of protecting herself. The reader sees Zélie use her staff while in the den of mercenaries led by Roёn when she is touched by one of his men. Her resulting attack displays her capabilities to the group and sways Roёn to work for her. The staff is an extension of Zélie, representing her fighting spirit and agency even after losing everything else.
Inan’s Toy
Inan spends much of the novel holding on to a small pawn from a sȇnet board, which is described as a game like chess. He has held on to it since he was a child, when he tried to play the game with his father and Saran knocked it out of his hands. It is a pawn from a set that Saran owned since childhood, and Inan considers it a gift although he picked it up off the floor and it was not given to him officially. Inan often uses it as a totem, touching it for comfort when he is stressed or anxious. After his magic is awoken, he notes that “Though the cool metal usually anchors me, today it’s warm to the touch. It almost stings as it passes through my fingers, burning with Father’s impending truth” (82). The comfort granted to him from the toy is soon lost, however, when Zélie sees him holding it. She informs him that it is made of majacite, a metal toxic to magic users, and whenever Inan holds it, he hurts himself.
In holding on to the pawn and looking to it for comfort, Inan showcases his dedication to his father, even at the cost of personal harm. The game piece is a physical connection to the King and Inan turns to it when experiencing doubt and confusion about his magic. The majacite figure also symbolizes how Inan functions as a “pawn” in King Saran’s political agenda. When Zélie points out that the pawn is made of majacite, it is after she and Inan have spent time bonding and Inan has experienced a change of heart. He disposes of the pawn, symbolically discarding his father’s ideology, and imagines a new future in which magical people can live beside nonmagical people, creating peace across the country. Inan suppresses his magic when holding on to the pawn, and when he gets rid of it, he pursues his magical abilities with a more optimistic outlook. This perspective does not last, however, and the pawn is soon replaced by another piece of majacite, a sword, highlighting Inan’s return to his previous thoughts.
Amari’s Headdress
The tiara Amari wears in the beginning of the novel is a dented piece of jewelry that used to belong to her mother. Amari’s best friend and maid, Binta, gave it to her after Inan nearly killed her in a sparring incident. It is the connection to Binta that Amari values rather than the actual headdress itself. Zélie recognizes this after they begin to bond, reflecting that “There was so much pain in her eyes. Pain I recognized. Pain I wore when I was young” (128). Amari wears the crown to stand as a connection to Binta but gives up the headdress to buy supplies for their journey to restore magic. When she does so, Amari is choosing a new, more functional way to honor Binta’s memory. She dedicates herself to a cause in Binta’s name, focusing on the best way to serve others. Although Inan returns the headdress to her after they reconcile, Amari is not described as wearing it, showcasing how she has turned to practicality and focused on the future and her new, self-determined identity.
Saran’s Sword
King Saran’s sword is a dark blade with a golden pommel decorated with a snow leopanaire, another giant cat and the symbol of the royal house. The sword is made from majacite, a type of metal that is particularly harmful to magical people. The blade of the sword is engraved with the motto “Duty Before Self. Kingdom Before King” (476). Near the end of the novel, Saran presents the sword to Inan shortly before they arrive at the gods’ island on the day of the solstice. The sword represents Saran’s power and presence, particularly his influence over Inan. Inan fears the blade, knowing that it has a long history of violence associated with it. When Saran gives the sword to Inan, it is during a discussion of his dead family and the importance of duty. It is the first sign of approval he has given Inan, and when Inan accepts the blade, he shows that he is fully dedicating himself to Saran’s cause. The majacite hurts him to hold, just as the decisions for the rest of the novel hurt his emotions and confuse his sense of self. The transference from son to father is a transference of duty, which Inan subsequently gives his life for.
Water
Both the destructive and curative powers of water are highlighted in Children of Blood and Bone, as water appears in many pivotal moments throughout the novel. Zélie and Tzain are from a town built on top of the ocean, a flowing establishment that sustains their family by providing fishing opportunities. Just as the water nourishes them as they are children, water hosts scenes of violence, such as the aquatic battleground they are forced to enter to win the sunstone. Zélie, Tzain, and Baba all almost drown at varying points in their lives, but this experience does not inspire fear in them. In fact, Zélie continues to swim and enjoy the water present in Inan’s dreamscape, as well as playfully shoves Tzain into the river in a moment of rest. Inan notes on several occasions that Zélie’s magical spirit smells like salt water, a smell that vanishes when her powers are suppressed because of trauma. While traveling the ocean in search of the gods’ island, Zélie is reunited with her companions and works to bridge gaps that had developed because of impulse and trauma. Zélie experiences two different rebirths in water over the course of the novel, first when Lekan awakens her powers and the second when she is resurrected by her ancestors’ spirits. Water acts as a reflection of the people around it in this novel. It mirrors both the violence and playfulness of the characters, becoming both a source of anxiety and comfort.
