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Chapter Eighty-Four
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 thinks of her mother as she floats through blackness to her mother’s voice. She sees a vision of Oya, who says she has always been by Zélie’s side, and always will be. But then she realizes it’s not Oya, but her own mother. Mama tells Zélie that Baba is there now, at peace.
The Goddess Oya is a source of comfort for Zélie not only because she is a connection to Zélie’s magic, but because she is a connection to Zélie’s mother. Once again, Zélie draws faith from her belief in the gods in part because they serve as a link to her family.
Themes
Zélie says they must bring Tzain there, so they can all be together. But Mama says it is not his time, nor is it Zélie’s. Orïsha still needs her. The blackness begins to fade as Zélie yells that she cannot leave her mother again.
Zélie’s desire to keep her family together is the strongest pull she feels in this moment. But her mother reminds her that she has other responsibilities, which extend beyond her blood family to the broader community of divîners who rely on her. Ultimately she must keep living and fighting for them, as much as she just wants to be with her mother.
Themes
