City of Ashes

“It was bad enough being biracial in her conservative suburban neighborhood. God knew what they’d do to a werewolf.”

Maia’s quote is an example of Cassandra Clare’s use of bleak irony and fantasy to highlight real-world problems. Here, Maia’s grimly humorous statement about what her conservative neighborhood would do to a biracial werewolf highlights the prejudice minorities face in the real world, especially for a person at the intersection of more than one minority group.

“‘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.