I believe after reading the book A Confusion Of Princes by Garth Nix, that the theme/central idea is don't let arrogance and power blind your vision of other people. The first instance where I could clearly define an example of this is, "How dare they leave us here!" I sputtered, wasting some of that precious oxygen. "I will protest!" "Not recommended, Highness," said Haddad briefly. He was already pulling at my elbow, urging me forward. "But I am a Prince of the Empire!"(Nix 31). In this example it shows you how Prince Khemri was in denial that some people obtained a status equal to him as a Prince of the empire, and he was not the most important person in this world. I think that it also shows how arrogant he was at the beginning of the novel because he didn't even acknowledge that his closet person he had to a friend, Haddad, was trying to get him to stop because even he knew it wasn't a good idea.
This instance Prince Khemri started to notice his arrogance and how it would effect his predicament if it continued. "I supposed it was possible, and it slowly dawned on me that Raine expected me to take her along. She hadn't even caught on that a minute or so before, I had planned to leave her behind. Once again I was reminded that I was thinking like a Prince and thinking of her as a programmed servant or something equally disposable."(Nix 194). At the beginning of the quote you can tell that Prince Khemri planned to leave Raine behind and escape on his own, but he started to second guess himself and realize that he shouldn't because he remembered that Raine just saved his life and he needed to repay her. Another aspect of Prince Khemri's personality that I believe starts to change here is that he begins to care for this girl even though she is not equal to his status as a Prince. She is merely a peasant in an ordinary Prince's mind.
Prince Khemri ignores his arrogance and does something a Prince would never do. "But now I didn't want to risk making a wrong move because... Because Raine had somehow become important. I didn't want her to become an enemy, or to hate me, even though I knew this was a tactical error. I shouldn't be caring about any human. I should be focusing on the mission."(Nix 239). Prince Khemri begins to ignore the mission he was sent there for, and began to fall in love with her which a Prince could never do. He was becoming less arrogant and more thoughtful. Another quote to further solidify this statement is, "I should have used Raine as a shield. Not the other way around. This was the second time I'd thought to save her no matter what the cost to myself. I had to be losing my mind, but somehow it was voluntary."(Nix 241). This final quote reinforces that Prince Khemri was beginning to put other people before himself even if they we not as important.
A central theme of this novel was don't let your arrogance blind your vision of others. Prince Khemri at the end of the novel changed from an arrogant Prince to someone that was able to care for someone else. He never put himself first, he always put someone else's needs in front of his. An example of this is he gave the ultimate sacrifice for the planet of Kharalcha Four by stopping an invading fleet of pirates, but also destroying himself in the process. At the beginning he was someone that would continually use other's for his own needs, near the end of the book he would put his life in danger for the sake of other's survival.
This article is Ryan Britt's review on A Confusion of Princes. He talks about how it is a good book for young adult science fiction lovers. He also talks about how it keeps readers constantly paying attention because there really are no dull parts.
Confusion of Princes Article
