Children of Blood and Bone essay

Is equality just a pipe dream? In the book 'Children of Blood and Bone' expertly written by  Tomi Adeyemi, we are presented with many challenging settings all throughout the world of Orisha. With each setting embedded with an important idea. This is shown during Zelie's graduation match, In Lagos, the capital of Orisha, and in Ibeji.

In the land of Orisha, we see that some people are taxed unfairly because of the colour of their skin. A great example of this is in the first chapter of the book. In this scene, we see Mama Agba desperately paying off the diviner taxes. Had she only had to play the regular tax, paying the tax would be feasible. However, because she had diviners under her care, she is charged extra. Within the same chapter, we see this happen with Baba. Because he has Zelie under his care, he is forced to pay unreasonable taxes and almost dies drowning, trying to catch fish in order to pay the tax. Both these scenes show us that diviners are treated unfairly because of the colour of their hair. This could be compared to the Race taxes that African Americans face. If people treated others as equals, situations such as this one would not exist. Then it would be one less problem the world has to deal with.

We see another challenge setting the book presents us with is the difference in lifestyle between the people of Orisha. This is shown in chapter 4 when Zelie enters Lagos, the capital of Orisha. The moment she enters, she states that "between Lago's walls is long and wide, my people congregate along the city's fringe in slums". This tells us that even though the space between the walls plentiful because they are diviners, they are forced to live a dreadful lifestyle in the slums while Kosadan live without a worry in the world. In real life, this could be compared to the difference in lifestyles between the commoners and the rich. To me, this seems unfair and could be fixed easily if people just learn to share.

The existence and mistreatment of slaves is another challenge setting in the Children of Blood and Bone. In chapter 22, Amari enters Ibeji and for the first time, she sees laborers outside of the palace. The laborers she had seen in the palace were always clean and groomed to her mother's satisfaction. But the laborers in Ibeji were dressed in nothing but tattered rags, their dark skin under the heat of the scorching sun. And with no water or food to speak of, all that's left are lifeless skeletons waiting for their demise. As their journey in Ibeji continues we see that the slaves are not only starved, and abused. They are forced to fight to the death as pawns in a battle royal. This scene shows how the diviner slaves are treated less than human. This could be compared to how in real life, Africans were sold and treated as if they were meer livestock. I'm my opinion, every human should be treated the same way.

Throughout the children of blood and bone, we are presented with challenge settings such as the unfair taxes based on race, the difference in lifestyles between the people of Orisha, and the existence and mistreatment of slaves. Even though these settings are in a fantasy world, all of them can be compaired to real life.