City of Bones

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2007

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-3

Part 1, Chapters 4-6

Part 1, Chapters 7-9

Part 2, Chapters 10-11

Part 2, Chapters 12-16

Part 2, Chapters 17-20

Part 3, Chapter 21-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Themes

Being Different Doesn’t Make Someone Better

In Chapter 13, Alec says “you can’t help how you’re born” (231). This is one of the few things in life people truly have no control over, but who we are born establishes were we fall on hierarchies, even when those hierarchies have no real meaning. Through the relationships between Shadowhunters and Down-worlders/humans, Valentine’s Shadowhunter cult, and the characters’ different skillsets, City of Bones shows how differences do not make someone better or worse than someone else. A person’s birth does not determine their worth, and a person’s choices do not elevate or lower them as compared to others.

Since their creation, Shadowhunters have seen themselves as a dominant race and above both Down-worlders and humans. The favoritism they received from the angels and the calling to protect the world from demons makes Shadowhunters believe they serve a greater purpose than all other races. Shadowhunters are forbidden from engaging in romantic relations with Down-worlders or humans because doing so is seen as a violation of their superior status, but while Shadowhunters elevate themselves above other races, they lack specific abilities and freedoms of Down-worlders and humans. Shadowhunters may access magic through tools (weapons and runes), but they cannot call upon power without these things. By contrast, Down-worlders use magic directly and are created with physical advantages Shadowhunters cannot achieve naturally. Humans lack the skills of Down-worlders and the ability to take runes like Shadowhunters, but human society is largely more open and accepting than the Shadowhunters. While Shadowhunters must be dedicated to their cause at all times, humans may pursue leisure and enjoyment, things only sparingly available to Shadowhunters. Shadowhunters are superior fighters and protectors, but these things make them different, not better, than humans and Down-worlders.

While Shadowhunters believe themselves above other races, there are also divides within Shadowhunter society. Valentine’s group upheld the belief that they were superior to other Shadowhunters because they wanted to save the Shadowhunters from extinction and eliminate Down-worlders. While this group used these ideals to exemplify what made them great, the rest of the Shadowhunters saw them as dangerous extremists, not better because of their purpose. At the uprising, Valentine’s Shadowhunters fell just as easily as other Shadowhunters or Down-worlders. Their perceived superiority did not make them better fighters or bestow divine importance upon them so they couldn’t die. Their lofty views were only different, not better.

The Shadowhunters in City of Bones each have their own unique skillset, and together these skills let them work as a team. Jace and Isabelle are frontline fighters and do their best work in the thick of combat. Jace’s blades bring him closer to the fight than Isabelle gets with her whip, and their two different styles give them individual advantages that may be more or less useful depending on the fight. Alec, by contrast, is combat support, which gives him a more comprehensive view of a situation and allows him to see threats Jace and Isabelle may be too close to notice. Alec’s combat style is not better or worse than Jace and Isabelle’s. Alec has never killed a demon because he’s provided protection so his friends can stay in the fight and do the killing, and without Alec Jace and Isabelle may not be as effective a team as they are.

People rank the actions and decisions of others to make themselves feel justified or superior, often to soothe their own feelings of inadequacy. Shadowhunters may secretly be jealous of humans and Down-worlders and so use their perceived superiority to convince themselves the differences of other races are negative. Whether born or chosen, differences do not make someone better or worse than someone else.

Our Experiences Change Who We Are

From the moment we are aware enough to remember our experiences, those experiences influence who we are and who we become. We continuously strive to find a static form of ourselves, but such a state is impossible so long as we continue to have new experiences. Through Jace and Clary’s character arcs, Luke’s past, and Hodge’s stagnation at the Institute, City of Bones suggests we are always changing, even from the smallest influences.

Jace and Clary learn new things about themselves throughout the book. Clary lived the first 15 years of her life ignorant of the Shadow world. The Shadowhunters and demon at Pandemonium are the first time she remembers the Shadow world, and the experience changes her because it means things she previously thought impossible might be real. As Clary goes deeper into the Shadow world and uncovers the truth of her heritage, she changes her goals and beliefs. Prior to learning why her mother was kidnapped, she just wanted to find her mom and go back to how things were. As she learns about her mom’s involvement with the Mortal Cup, Clary begins to understand that her world is bigger than the human life she knew. Fighting creatures and learning to use runes turn her from a lost young adult to a young woman with a purpose. Similarly, Jace undergoes a transformation once he meets Clary and realizes he cares for her, even after Valentine told him love makes people weak. In the epilogue, Jace tells Clary he misses his past with Valentine because it was “the only time I ever felt sure about who I was” (482). He felt that way because his exposure to new experiences was limited. Meeting Clary and realizing he can love her and still hunt demons allows him to see that new experiences help him grow and become the person he needs to be.

While new experiences help us grow, they do not always seem to do so at first. Luke’s history shows him undergoing changes that he initially fought because he believed they made him less than what he was. With Valentine’s help, Luke went from being a subpar Shadowhunter to one of great skill, and his new talent gave him confidence he didn’t have before. Becoming a werewolf upended everything Luke believed about himself. Before, he was a superior Shadowhunter, and at first he felt that being a Down-worlder made him less. As he learned to be a werewolf, he gained knowledge of survival and protection, which allowed him to keep those he cared about safe. In the story present, Luke has transitioned yet again into living as a human. After leading a werewolf pack, hiding his Down-worlder nature does not come easily, but his experiences have taught him to change his lifestyle and priorities quickly, allowing him to become an ally to Clary’s mom and quickly understand human life.

While Luke, Clary, and Jace experience grand changes to their understandings of who they are, Hodge’s sentence within the New York Institute shows how even small experiences can change us. After the uprising, Hodge and the Lightwoods were sentenced to remain in New York, but while the Lightwood’s connections earned them a lighter punishment, Hodge has been cursed never to go outside. As a result, Hodge has left behind combat, which he never enjoyed, to become a fulltime tutor for Alec, Isabelle, and Jace. Research and teaching are not new to Hodge, but imparting his wisdom is, and in helping his charges learn what they need for their role as warriors Hodge finds that watching them grow offers the new experience of caring. Even stuck as he is, Hodge lives vicariously through the kids and finds himself changing into someone who can’t fully betray them when his chance comes. After Valentine lifts Hodge’s curse, Hodge takes steps to make sure Alec doesn’t die, and he protects Clary from Valentine, things he likely wouldn’t have done without the experiences that made him a caregiver.

Even if it’s so small as to be unnoticeable, we are constantly changing. Our own experiences and the observed experiences of others offer us new ways to view and interact with the world. Closing ourselves off to new experiences stagnates us, and finding new things, even in the most unwanted changes, ultimately benefits us.

Different Perspectives Cloud the Truth

The characters of City of Bones sometimes believe whatever version of a story best suits their purposes. In addition, the origins of Shadowhunters and the Shadow world change from story to story, making it difficult to know what is truth and what is conjecture. Through the different versions of Valentine’s tale, the origins of Shadowhunters and religions, and Clary’s mind block, City of Bones shows how truth is influenced by different perspectives.

Different stories offer unique perspectives on events, but they can also make finding the truth difficult. Throughout the book, characters offer Clary information about her past, most versions calling Valentine a villain and those who opposed him heroes. In Chapter 23 when Clary faces Valentine, he tells a different story that centers himself as a victim. While most Shadowhunters view Valentine as the extremist who wanted to destroy those who tainted the Shadowhunter bloodlines, Valentine sees himself as a vigilante who is doing what must be done to preserve the Shadow hunter race. Similarly, Valentine is described as the man who killed his family out of rage, but in Valentine’s version of events, he did what he needed to do to survive and fight another day. It’s never made clear if Valentine believes his version of events or if he just uses it to sway others to be sympathetic toward him. Either way, these different perspectives make it difficult to determine the truth, and in the case of Jace, they cause internal conflict that is drawn out into the rest of the series.

Truth is even more difficult to ascertain when it comes to stories from distant history. In Chapter 7, Jace says that “most myths are true, at least in part” (102), referring to the various origin stories for Earth’s religions and how each incorporates goodness and the fight to preserve it. By definition, myth is a story that is seemingly true but cannot be completely verified. As a result, the Shadowhunters are not sure of exactly how they came to be needed. They believe they were created by an angel, but since there is no proof angels exist, they must continue their mission with only faith and a hope their faith is not misguided. Similarly, the world’s many religions offer a few possible origin stories, but like the existence of angels, none can be completely confirmed. The various perspectives mean that the Shadowhunters can never truly know if their fight is required or even if they are fighting the correct foe.

Finding the truth becomes more difficult when our own mind hides things from us. The spell Magnus cast on Clary makes her forget any evidence of the Shadow world she sees. Memory is a complicated mechanism, though, and there is nothing to say that those memories aren’t buried in Clary’s subconscious. The way images come back to her over time suggest she will recall events from her past, but she doesn’t know how much she’ll remember and if those memories will be accurate or twisted by the spell. Clary believes that her life prior to discovering the Shadow world was true, but her altered perspective kept her from seeing what was real. Regaining her ability to see the Shadow world lets her find the truth, but even without a block in her mind she will be faced with learning what is true about being a Shadowhunter and what is made unclear by multiple perspectives.