First Third Adeyemi

Grace Perry 

Dr. June Ellis 

EN376*01 

16 October 2023 

First Third of Adeyemi


The thing that strikes me the most in Tomi Adeyemi's, Children of Blood and Bone, is the way the two ends of the conflict between the magi and non-magi are slowly entwining with one another with the narrative perspectives of Zelie, Amari, and Inan. In choosing to give these three perspective, it makes it difficult for the reader to really choose a side to root for because we can see how these characters are each forced to confront the truth of their reality. 

The reader is able to discern that they are all at odds with King Saran, yet they are unable to recognize this commonality among each others or even, specifically for Inan, recognize that this is at the core of their inner conflict. Saran has manufactured a culture of "otherness" for the diviners and this duality of being in or out vividly impacts the mindsets and opinions of each individual character and by aligning their narratives to run side by side, Adeyemi emphasizes this point. 

Empathy is established for all of these characters because they have each been so intimately impacted by the actions of their governing system. Zelie is uniquely ostracized and looked down upon because of her magi identity, while her brother is gawked and praised at every turn. She has lost, not only her mother, but the main connection she had to her spiritual past and the very identity everyone criticizes her for. Amari has just witnessed the death of her closest friend at the hands of her father and experiences for the first time, what can happen by remaining the bystander in situations of injustice, at the same time she is truly witnessing this very injustice. Inan, in discovering that he has ashe coursing within him, is grappling with the fact that he has become the thing he has been raised to hate, while at the same time almost unwillingly executing the position that would cement his success as the future king. At the heart of all these conflicts is the erasure of the magi and King Saran, yet the characters have yet to come to discover this common link. 

This contrast between the narratives creates a larger conversation of the way in which even the most privileged can be inherently harmed by the systems that seek to uplift them. While Zelie is in disbelief that the princess could ever want to escape her life of luxury, we learn that for Amari and Inan, most things in their life were not exactly moments of joy and happiness. At the same time, Amari feels ashamed at acknowledging her own hurt as she begins to develop a true sense for all the pain in the world and feels that whatever she went through could never compare, and so she remains silent. Yet, neither Zelie, nor Amari, will be able to overcome their own pasts until they confront them head on.

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