City of Ashes

“‘I don’t want to be a man,’ said Jace. ‘I want to be an angst-ridden teenager who can’t confront his own inner demons and takes it out verbally on other people instead.’

‘Well,’ said Luke, ‘you’re doing a fantastic job.’”

Jace’s comeback to Luke and Clary highlights his acerbic wit while illustrating The Struggle for Identity he is facing as an adolescent. When Clary asks Jace to grow up, he retorts that he, in fact, is not a grown up. He is a teenager who wants to throw temper tantrums, which suggests he recognizes his own emotional immaturity.

“Family is more than blood. Valentine isn’t my father. Luke is. Just like Alec and Max and Isabelle are Jace’s family.”

Clary’s remark to Maryse shows her courage and wisdom, while also invoking the text’s important theme of The Dynamics of Family Loyalty and Betrayal. Families in the novel are not necessarily bonded by blood; found and chosen families are equally important, as Clary tells Maryse. Jace may be Valentine’s son, but the Lightwoods are the family he chose, and Maryse should trust his choice.

“‘They’re not like a cult.’

‘Sure they are. Shadowhunting is their whole lives. And they look down upon everyone else. They call us mundanes. Like they’re not human beings.’”

Simon’s matter-of-fact, clear-eyed assessment of Shadowhunters highlights how exclusionary Nephilim society can be. Shadowhunters may think of themselves as protectors, but they dismiss the very people they seek to protect, adding nuance to the text’s portrayal of The Complicated Conflict Between Good and Evil.

“‘You see, cuckoos are parasites. They lay their eggs in other birds’ nests. When the egg hatches, the baby cuckoo pushes the other baby birds out of the nest. The poor parent birds work themselves to death trying to find enough food to feed the enormous cuckoo child who has murdered their babies and taken their places.’

‘Enormous?’ said Jace. ‘Did you just call me fat?’

‘It was an analogy.’

‘I am not fat.’”

This passage combines various literary devices, such as analogy and humor, to bring out the contrast between Imogen and Jace. While Imogen is grim and judgmental, comparing Jace to a cuckoo changeling, Jace is irreverent and glib, fixating on Imogen’s use of the word “enormous.” Jace’s humor also disarms the Inquisitor by refusing to take her seriously.

“‘I did kill him, and the rest of the Silent Brothers as well. I had to. They had something I needed.’

‘What? A sense of decency?’”

Another example of Jace’s flippant, funny tone, this exchange between Jace and Valentine also emphasizes Valentine’s lack of empathy. Valentine frames his killing of the Silent Brothers as something he must do, since he needed the Mortal Sword from them. The fact that he thinks killing the monks was a necessary step shows how warped his mind has grown, highlighting the complicated conflict between good and evil. Jace’s sarcasm serves to relieve some of the horror of the scene: The conversation is taking place with Jace in a dark cell, surrounded by the bloodied corpses of the Silent Brothers.

“Magnus stood up and went to the window. He pushed the curtain back, letting in just enough light to silhouette his hawklike profile. ‘Blood,’ he said, half to himself. ‘I had a dream two nights ago. I saw a city all of blood, with towers made of bone, and blood ran in the streets like water.’

Simon slewed his eyes over to Jace. ‘Is standing by the window muttering about blood something he does all the time?’

‘No,’ said Jace, ‘sometimes he sits on the couch and does it.’”

Clare often builds a tense image only to undercut it with a sarcastic bit of dialogue. The juxtaposition of horror and humor provides relief in the stressful proceedings. Magnus’s vision of blood foreshadows Valentine’s nefarious plans. It also illustrates the text’s blood symbolism: Since blood represents vital life force, a vision of the bleeding city is very bad news indeed.

“It’s my motto […] nothing less than seven inches.”

When the Fey Meliorn comments on the impracticality of Isabelle’s high heels, Isabelle makes a cheeky double innuendo. Not only do such lines infuse humor into the proceedings, they also humanize the supernatural, a key feature of the urban fantasy genre.

“Love does make liars out of your kind.”

The extent to which love drives people is an important thematic element in the novel. Characters often go to any length for those they love, whether it be Clary for Jace and Simon, or Jace for Clary. The Seelie Queen’s comment highlights this element; since the Queen herself cannot lie, the mortal propensity to twist words for the sake of love is a source of fascination for her.

“‘Your generosity is as remarkable as your loveliness, Lady.’

Clary made a gagging sound, but the Queen looked pleased.”

Jace appears a far more measured and controlled version of himself in the Seelie Court, so much so that his flattery of the Queen makes Clary grow disgusted. However, Jace’s careful flattery shows that he is capable of being serious when needed.

“Simon had watched with a sick feeling in his stomach, unable to look away, as Jace had taken Clary in his arms and kissed her with such force Simon had thought one or the both of them might shatter. He’d held her as if he wanted to crush her into himself, as if he could fold the two of them into one person.”

The novel features a portrayal of the intensity of youthful love and heartbreak. Having witnessed Jace and Clary’s passionate kiss at the Seelie Court, a heartbroken Simon is beginning to realize that his love for Clary is one-sided. At the same time, the fact that Jace is not careful with Clary and kisses her as an equal foreshadows that he and Clary are meant to end up with each other.

“It takes a true patriot to dissent, to say he loves his country more than he cares for his own place in the social order. I’ve been vilified for my choice, forced into hiding, banished from Idris. But I am—I will always be—Nephilim.”

Valentine’s statement illustrates the novel’s important theme of the complicated conflict between good and evil while showcasing his megalomania. Valentine truly believes in the rightness of his cause, terming himself a “patriot.” In Valentine’s narrative, he is the victim who has been hounded, rather than a mass murderer who is killing teenagers and draining them of blood. The gap between Valentine’s perception and reality shows how evil operates through delusions of goodness.

“You are like me. We poison and destroy everything we love. There is a reason for that […] We are meant for a higher purpose, you and I. The distractions of the world are just that, distractions. If we allow ourselves to be turned aside from our course by them, we are duly punished.”

Valentine’s words to Jace are an example of his continuing psychological manipulation of the young Nephilim. Not only did Valentine bring up Jace to believe love was destructive, he also takes every opportunity to make Jace think that he, like Valentine, has a special purpose. Jace does not need love or happiness, because he is meant for greatness. Of course, the greatness to which Valentine alludes is confined to his own narrow definition of the term.

“I was alive when the Dead Sea was just a lake that was feeling a little poorly.”

Magnus’s cheeky reply to Clary’s question about his age may be hyperbolic, but it is also true that Magnus has been around for a long time. The warlock is nearly 400 years old.

“‘Some guys look at you like they only want sex. Jace looks at you like you’ve had sex—it was great and now you’re just friends. Drives girls crazy. Know what I mean?’ Yes. Clary thought. ‘No.’ Clary said.”

Maia’s observation about Jace cements Jace’s bad-boy status, and is also an example of Clare’s use of contemporary, accessible language. The current vocabulary juxtaposed with the novel’s fantastical setting evokes common tropes and techniques of the urban fantasy genre.

“‘The love a parent had for a child, there is nothing else like it. No other love so consuming. No father—not even Valentine—would sacrifice his son for a hunk of metal, no matter how powerful.’

‘You don’t know my father. He’ll laugh in your face and offer you some money to mail my body back to Idris.’

‘Don’t be absurd—’

‘You’re right,’ Jace said. ‘Come to think of it, he’ll probably make you pay the shipping charges yourself.’”

This sarcasm-laced exchange between Jace and Imogen simultaneously highlights Jace’s insight and the deluded thinking of the Inquisitor. Projecting her own love for her deceased son onto Valentine, Imogen believes he would give up the Mortal Sword for Jace. Jace, who knows Valentine far better, reminds Imogen that Valentine is not exactly the model father she had made him out to be. The passage speaks to the dynamics of family loyalty and betrayal in the text.

“‘Wait.’ Clary was suddenly nervous. ‘The melted metal—it could be, like, toxic or something.’

Maia snorted. ‘I’m from New Jersey. I was born in toxic sludge.’”

Clare’s world-building involves braiding together contemporary real-world and fantasy elements. Clary and Maia may be trying to jump through a magic-made opening in a ship used to ferry demons, but the environmental pollution of the real world is never far behind. This juxtaposition of the familiar and the fantastical adds humor to the tense action while making the more fantasy-laden scenes still contain familiar elements from the non-fantasy world.

“A spider demon scuttled towards Jace, chittering and jetting yellow poison. He ducked away, not quite fast enough to keep a few drops of the poison from splattering his shirt. It hissed as it ate through the material; he felt the sting as it burned his shirt like a dozen tiny superheated needles.”

An example of the text’s use of horror and gore to create a vivid image, this description of the spider demon involves multiple senses. The scuttling spider-like entity evokes visual horror, while its chittering relies on scary sound effects. The description of the poison feeling like red-hot needles offers a sensory depiction.

“‘But isn’t that what love is, Clarissa? Ownership? “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine,” as the Song of Songs goes.’

‘No. And don’t quote the Bible at me. I don’t think you get it…It’s not just that someone belongs to you, it’s that you give yourself to them. I doubt you’ve ever given anything to anyone. Except maybe nightmares.’”

Valentine embodies the old saying that the Devil can quote the Bible to suit his ends; that is, manipulators can retrofit noble ideals to justify their excesses, speaking to the complicated conflict between good and evil. Valentine quotes the Bible to prove that his authoritarian control is love. Clary refuses to be taken in by her father’s gaslighting and undermines him with furious sarcasm.

“She had begun to see what Luke had meant when he’d said you couldn’t argue with Valentine. Somehow he’d made it impossible for her to disagree with him without feeling as if she were standing up for demons who bit children in half.”

Valentine’s evil is all the more frightening since Clare portrays him as a manipulative mastermind, highlighting the complicated conflict between good and evil. Clary notes that when she tries to defend Downworlders, Valentine immediately describes the horrors some Downworlders have inflicted upon little children. If Clary continues to defend her Downworlder friends, it would seem like she is supporting the torturers of children. The faulty—but persuasive and dangerous—logic that Valentine uses here is reminiscent of real-world autocratic figures.

“Simon took his hand away from his mouth. The fangs were gone. ‘I could have killed you,’ he said. There was a sort of pleading in his voice.

‘I would have let you,’ said Jace.”

Jace and Simon have come a long way since Jace disdained Simon as a Mundane, and Simon felt jealous of Jace and Clary’s connection. This passage marks a transformation of their relationship, as well as the individual characters. Jace is willing to give up his life to save Simon, while Simon is genuinely sorry for endangering Jace. Both characters have, thus, grown up over the course of the novel.

“I’ve always known who you are. Ever since the first time I saw you getting off the ship from Idris, when you were ten years old—you walked into my heart, just as my own children did when they were born.”

Maryse’s heartfelt words to Jace mark a full-circle moment: At the beginning of the novel, she had sent him away, and she now invites him back into her home with an admission of love. The text does not imply that Maryse’s treatment of Jace is perfect, but rather, that Maryse, like all parents, is complicated. While Jace does not forgive her, he accepts her love and her invitation.

“‘To draw something is to try to capture it forever,’ Jocelyn had said, sitting on the floor with a paintbrush dripping cadmium blue onto her jeans. ‘If you really love something, you never try to keep it the way it is forever. You have to let it be free to change.’”

Love is an important thematic element in the novel, with Jocelyn suggesting that love means letting the beloved be free to evolve. Jocelyn has never painted her daughter, because she does not want to trap Clary in paint; similarly, Clary must let Simon and Jace make their own choices, even if the choices lead them away from her. Jocelyn’s definition of love is in sharp contrast to Valentine’s idea of love as ownership, highlighting the differences between the two toward the dynamics of family loyalty and betrayal.

“A pair of werewolves occupied another booth. They were eating raw shanks of lamb and arguing about who would win in a fight: Dumbledore from Harry Potter books or Magnus Bane.

‘Dumbledore would totally win,’ said the first one. ‘He has the badass Killing Curse.’

The second lycanthrope made a trenchant point. ‘But Dumbledore isn’t real.’”

The narrative contains many references to pop culture and literary works (See: Symbols & Motifs). Here, Clary overhears werewolves argue over an imaginary contest between Albus Dumbledore from J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter universe and Magnus Bane. Not only is the set-up meant to be humorous, the allusion to Harry Potter also invokes another popular fantasy series for young adults.