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Chapter Thirty
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’s magic is beginning to dwindle, but she knows she must save Amari and Tzain. Knowing she is disobeying her mother’s wishes, she decides to use blood magic to save the others. She bites into her hand to release some blood, and with it, a swirl of powerful, intensely draining magic.
The divîners’ traditions require trade-offs and even literal sacrifices. In this case, the price of power is intense pain. In addition, choosing to use this dangerous magic to help others also means disobeying her mother’s wishes, which implies that in life, Zélie’s mother only used her powers for good.
Themes
An army of reanimated spirits do Zélie’s bidding, but, at the same time, she feels as if her skin is being torn apart. She thinks of her mother as water rushes into her lungs.
In order to use her power and do what she thinks is right, Zélie must pay the dual price of sacrificing her body and ignoring her mother’s desires.
Themes
