Coming of age is an inevitable event that happens in one's life usually in their adolescence. A person’s coming of age experience can differ from person to person, but they all lead to the individual learning and growing up mentally. Tomi Adeyemi’s best selling novel, Children of Blood and Bone demonstrates coming of age. In the passage, literary elements conflict, motif, and character development develops the theme that coming of age involves the understanding of others and the world in its true form.
Conflict is a key element in developing the theme of coming of age. In the beginning of the passage, the conflict between Zeile and Inan is shown as Inan is ready to kill Zeile. Inan’s chase and desire to kill Zeile has started since she was
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Inan’s magic is triggered after he raises his sword to Zeile, “The world disappears in a burning blue cloud. Though I fight, I can’t get out. My curse holds me down. Red skies. Shrill screams. Running blood. In one moment, the girl’s whole world flashes before my eyes. Her heartbreak rips through my own chest. Rawer than I knew pain could be.” He gets a vision from the night of The Raid, an event ordered by King Saran to murder all majis, through the eyes of Zeile. In the passage, Inan mentions how strong the vision was as he fought hard but couldn’t push it down. Inan first discovers his magic when he sees a turquoise cloud accompanied by a sea-like scent and a brief image of a diviner in his head. He asks Kaea, second-in-command to Saran, if she is able to see it, but she can't. Inan pieces everything together and realizes that it is magic. He concludes that through the skin to skin contact he made with Zeile in Lagos, she cursed him with his magic. However, it was from when he accidentally touched the scroll that awakened the power he already had. He is horrified when he finds that he has magic in fear of his father’s reaction and his feelings towards magic. Whenever Inan feels his power resurfacing, he tries to push it down, which shows his struggle of self-acceptance and him in