In many science-fiction and fantasy books power is one of the major issues. The whole plot is usually based around who is in charge and how people fight to change that. The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Claire is no exception. Power plays an incredible role in these books and everything that the characters do, is somewhat related to it. Power is a dangerous thing and I think how they portray it in books conveys a very striking message.
The first thing I noticed is that many different things fuel power. For example love. To love someone is to give them the power to hurt you. Also loving someone drives you to do crazy things for them. For example in The Mortal Instruments Clary loves Jace so much that he has the power to hurt her and when someone takes Jace away from her they captured that power creating destruction and hurt. I also noticed that debt fuels power, especially in books. When the characters owe each other their lives they give the other person power as a sort of way to feel like you are even. The last thing that I noticed fuel power in my book was resisting the power. When you resist the power you turn the tables. Now the person who used to be in power wants you to do something and you have the power to refuse. For example, Maia and Jordan in my book. After Jordan told Maia he loved her he gave her power not only because of love but he gave her the power to refuse him.
To keep and sustain power I noticed that you cant be weak, you have to be totally in control. Showing weakness gives the other person power. In my book there is a scene where the vampire leader wants something from Simon. Technically Simon has the power to refuse but since Simon is such a meek person and Rapheal has such confidenece he seems like the one in power. In another scene I noticed how merciless and almost unfeeling you have to be. Jace couldn't bring him self to kill his father so he got killed. If you have power you have to be confident in it or it will be snatched away.
After looking over my inquiries and answers I noticed that power has a huge impact on the story and characters and that it is a very dangerous thing. I notcied that power comes along with your personality and to keep power you have to have a very strong personality. This got me thinking; is it better to have a strong, unfeeling personality and be able to keep power or be more loving but give power to others and possibly put yourself in danger? Also how does this reflect on out world? Are the people in power all cruel and unfeeling and if so maybe these books are trying to tell us something. That instead of focusing on power and control we should just start focusing on making the world a better place.
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