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Chapter Forty-Nine
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
Inan and Zélie fight amidst the crowd of animations. Kwame runs out of the encampment’s gate, his hands ablaze. He is a Burner, like the maji who incinerated Saran’s first family. As Zélie drops the sunstone, the Burner catches it, and his entire body erupts in flame.
Kwame, like the divîners who killed Saran’s first family, has an ability which is overtly dangerous. He provides a glimpse into how dangerous and frightening it would be if divîners decided to use their powers for evil. Whether that fear is founded or not, it is one of the justifications Saran has used for the oppression of divîners. This imbalance of power, in which some have the ability to use destructive magic, can drive violence.
Themes
Melting the ground around him, he stalks towards Zélie and prepares to strike her with a jet of fire. Inan rushes forward to counter with magic of his own, but at that moment, a girl yells for everyone to stop and says that Inan and Zélie are with them. The Burner freezes in his tracks, and lets his fire go out.
Inan was prepared to use violent magic of his own in retaliation, but cooler heads prevailed. Even though Kwame has the ability to hurt others, he is also loyal and logical, diminishing the concern that he would use his power for evil.
Themes
