Clary is the main point-of-view character and protagonist of City of Bones. As a teenager, Clary struggles with her self-image and dislikes some aspects of her appearance. She compares herself to her mother, who is tall and thin with deep red hair, and with her lighter red hair and freckles, she feels like “a Raggedy Ann to her mother’s Barbie doll” (24). Clary also feels like she has been missing something her entire life. While this is a common feeling in the teen years, it’s true for Clary, as her memories of the Shadow world have been blocked out. Clary has a supernatural past she doesn’t know about, a common trait of female protagonists in young adult urban fantasy/paranormal novels. Throughout the book, she learns about her past and the Shadow world, and by the end she must decide whether to embrace her Shadowhunter nature or go back to the life she knew. With her mother unconscious and danger still lurking, Clary chooses to join the Shadowhunters, a necessary decision for the story to continue in the urban fantasy genre.

Clary’s self-image plays a large role in who she is as well as how others view her.