For the essay, I wrote about a memorable idea from the text. This memorable idea was about how everyone in the book is an individual. I then wrote about scenes and quotes from the book that back up the idea that I have previously mentioned.
Everyone is an individual, considering that not one human is like another. This idea was used in the book Children of Blood and Bones by Tomi Adeyemi. In the book, a significant idea in the text that relates to the following idea goes as follows. Our opinion should not be influenced by others as we should be able to make our own decisions without being influenced by others. This idea was shown in different scenes, in chapter 3, Amari worries about her safety because of what her fathers tells her about. This idea was also seen in chapter 41 where Inan realizes what his father had done to the maji and comes to a conclusion about his opinions. It is also shown in chapter 45 where Inan tries to call his guards but gets denied by Zèlie as she thinks the guards are bad.
When Amari tries to find her maid, Binta who is a maji, she is reminded of warnings from her father that change her opinions. When Inan and Amari were younger they were forced to go under their father’s wing and learn how to wield a sword. When meeting Zèlie and Tzain she assumes that they were going to attack her once they have escaped together. This is because of her father’s warning that has continuously warned her about the maji. The situation is akin to a story that I have previously read. This story mentioned how a girl was avoiding certain people that she thought would hurt her but in the end, the people that she avoided aided her during her journey. While this advice can be helpful in different situations, we also need to have our own opinions and before believing in something; having evidence to back up a particular opinion.
After Tzain and Amari were taken, Zèlie and Inan talk and during that time Inan realizes what his father had done to the majis and decides to be something different from his father. When Inan looks into Zèlie’s memories he is confronted with the actions that his father has made and ultimately decides to be a better ruler than him. Inan finally realizes that his father had done something terrible to the divîners that will scar them forever. He then thinks about his father and makes his own decision to make a new Orïsha where both maji and kosidán can coexist. This can be juxtaposed with the character Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender. He, just like Inan made the decision to change to be a better person and help out Zèlie, Amari and Tzain to change the world. I think that making our own decisions is very important because, in the future, we might be doing something that we don’t want to do, which was decided by another person.
In this chapter, Inan and Zèlie come up with a plan to save both Amari and Tzain, they then argue when Inan suggests that he should call his guards, this provokes Zèlie. Inan didn’t think that they could take down all of the people below, so Inan proposes calling in his guards which were greatly opposed by Zèlie due to her poor experience with them. Zèlie thinks that the guards are killers, rapists and thieves, she doesn’t want them to help them because of her past encounters with them. This can be juxtaposed with a scene earlier in the story where the king, Saran, starts war against the maji because of the actions of a group of evil maji. This shows that their opinions can change solely due to the action of a small group. In my opinion, they should think about the bigger picture and consider other people in that particular class of people.
Taking all this into consideration, we can conclude that the idea ‘Everyone is an Individual’ is used in the book Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. In the story this idea is shown by the character's development, throughout the story each character develops their personality to think rationally and consider other people in the bigger picture. They can make their own decisions and choose to be their own person rather than being something that they are forced to be. From this book we learn that we can make our own decisions, we have the power to think for ourselves and choose our own paths. As Amari said “Those are father’s words, Inan. His decisions. Not yours. We are our own people. We make our own choices.” We are all individuals.
