Futurismnow

      Power in Honor and Truth      During the second third of Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone , I was particularly drawn to the functions of the Maji magic, their affects, and how the type of magic an individual Maji holds is related to their core character. So far, readers have been introduced to the idea of Maji reapers, healers, burners, and connectors. The two characters that I wish to highlight now are Zelie, a Reaper Maji, and Inan, a Connector Maji. As we learn more about the values and perspectives of these characters, the specific magic abilities become even more telling of the type of person that they are, allowing readers to gain a greater understanding of the characters behavior and purpose in the story.      As mentioned, Zelie is a Reaper Maji like her mother, but the reasons for the intensity and overall role of her magic are rooted far deeper than her genetics. Zelie's whole life following the murder of her mother has be...

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 narra...

 Jasper Martin  Dr Ellis  EN 376  16 October, 2023  Adeyemi First Third     The first thing I noticed about Adeyemi's "Of Blood and Bone" was the immediate implications of the differences between the story's main protagonist, Zelie, and others in society, mainly those with higher social status. She is said to have a lower social status than others due to her position as a diviner, which is seen as being a part of the magical world that the king and his followers have attempted to get rid of, as diviners have latent magical abilities. This of course has implications in the real world of those who's countries had been colonized, as it even goes so far in the story to explicitly say that Zelie's sparring partner, Yemi (someone of higher social stature and wealthier) has lighter skin than Zelie. This is a nod towards the whites of Europe coming into the societies of the lands they colonized and removing the "magic," they already had there, and replacing ...

Lucy Marous One aspect of the first third of Children of Blood and Bone that stood out to me was how much gender shaped the world of the novel. From using traditional gender stereotypes and the results of those, Adeyemi puts us into a world that, despite its magic, is not all that different from our own. The first example we see of this is in the opening of the novel, when Mama Agba’s fighting classes use the traditionally feminine activity of sewing as their cover up: “What once resembled an arena now plays the convincing part of a seamstress’s shop” (Adeyemi 9). The choice to do so is interesting in that first, there is a necessity to cover up the fact that women are learning to fight. Defense being a gendered practice in this world sets up the patriarchal values that rule the world of the novel. Second, sewing being used as a cover up because it is feminine emphasizes the world’s logic that feminine things are unthreatening. By taking up this domestic task, these girls are no longe...

Magic & Connection in  Children of Blood and Bone In the first third of the novel, Adeyemi introduces her readers to a world in which maji exists and magic, once thought dead, lingers—waiting to be freed—in everything. When first beginning this text, I had no clue what to expect. Unlike some of our other readings, this novel incorporates more fantastical elements (rather than those of science fiction). Nonetheless, it still functions as a way to imagine and evaluate through a different, fantastical lens a society that may deal with problems similar to our own. Adeyemi expertly crafts the world of Orïsha, a place where two kinds of people coexist—though not in harmony—those with the potential for magic, and those who lack such abilities or potential. As we learn through the first third of the book, the divîners face incredible persecution and oppression at the hand of the non-magical kosidan. The kosidan subject the divîners and those who sympathize with them to cruel treatment;...

Joshua Singh Dr. Ellis EN 376 16 October Adeyemi First Half Adeyemi introduces her protagonist in a unique way in Children of Blood and Bone. Zelie already is presented as an outcast, someone set apart from the rest of society through systemic and indoctrinated othering of a particular group of people within Orisha. Zelie’s diviner ancestry and white hair serve to denote her as Orishan’s societal outcast, and the king perpetuates this stereotype that Orishans must treat diviners as below them. Yemi, her sparring partner in the beginning of the novel, is described to have “much lighter skin…of Orishans who've never spent a day laboring in the sun, a privileged life funded by hush coin from a father she never met” (Adeyemi 4). The dynamic of othered diviners against privileged, controlling, and discriminatory Orishans is displayed early on. One thing I noticed is her desire to strike back and resist the Orishans’ discrimination with violent acts. She’s very impulsive, emotional, ...

  Elizabeth Thompson Dr. Ellis EN 376 16 October 2023 The Nature of Magic             Adeyemi characterizes magic as both a relationship and living thing in  Children of Blood and Bone , particularly through Mama Agba. When giving an oral history of the magi and the Raid that caused its disappearance she says, “One day magic  breathed . The next, it died” (15). Similar to the concept of  Pawta  in  Na Viro , magic seems to act like a living technology or system of power that the wielder must work with instead of conquering in order to use. Mama Agba mentions also mentions “Magic is a gift from the gods… a spiritual connection between them and mankind” (82). The magic is not only living but spiritual as well. As such, there are instances where it has been abused by maji that has accounted for its eradication and the genocide of maji by the king. However, the loss of magic as something spiritual is e...