50 pages • 1 hour read
Princess Academy
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Symbols & Motifs
Mount Eskel
Mount Eskel is a symbol of the strength, resilience, and loyalty of its people. It also serves as a motif supporting the theme of The Impact of Community on Individual Identity. As Miri studies at the academy, she becomes increasingly intrigued by the possibility of living in the lowlands, but the mountain anchors her sense of self. She often hears the mountain outside and decides that “she [i]s not ready to give up on the mountain completely, not ready to give up on her pa” (113). Miri fondly associates the mountain with home, security, and family, so she is hesitant to leave it behind.
Though Miri occasionally entertains the idea of a different life in another place, her connection to the mountain deepens through the novel. Particularly when the bandits take the academy hostage, she uses quarry-speech to get Peder and the villagers to rescue them. This experience clarifies her feelings, and she realizes that the mountain is her home and where she truly belongs. Mount Eskel and its people have supported and loved her for her whole life. She describes the shadow of the mountain as resembling “a comforting arm” (348), establishing that the mountain, like the villagers, is a support system that has always provided her with peace and a sense of belonging.
Linder
Linder is a symbol of connection among the villagers, linking them through their shared history and memories. It also serves as a motif reinforcing the novel’s main themes of Education as Empowerment, Self-Discovery and Personal Growth, and The Impact of Community on Individual Identity.
Linder is the main resource of Mount Eskel and is highly valuable in Danland. When Miri learns this, she realizes that the villagers have been historically underpaid by traders for their labor. She decides to use this information to help her village, believing that “if the traders deal[] fairly, her village could benefit from the heaps of wonders the rest of the kingdom seem[s] to enjoy” (131). Eventually, her advocacy for fair wages leads to Mount Heskel’s economic growth.
The linder also represents Miri’s connection to Mount Heskel. Though she has never worked in the quarry, she has the ability to use quarry-speech. This proves that she is as much a part of the mountain as the other villagers. Some villagers are confused about Miri’s ability to use quarry-speech, but Marda explains that linder transfers mountain folk’s memories as a form of communication. Marda says,
If it works around linder, and mountain folk have linder inside us…maybe linder shapes quarry-speech in the way that cupping your hands around your mouth makes your voice louder. Or maybe quarry-speech travels through linder like sound through air, and the more linder the louder it is. Our memories move through linder, whether in the mountain or in a person (191).
This discovery strengthens Miri’s connection to her people. She realizes that Mount Heskel and the villagers are an inseparable part of her identity.
The Painting
The painting of the house, which Olana shows to the girls at the academy, symbolizes the promise of a luxurious life as a princess. Olana uses it to motivate the girls to study harder, and it works. The beautiful house, which has a fine garden, captivates the girls, including Miri. She imagines bringing her father and sister to live there so that they no longer have to endure the harsh winters of the mountain. Miri dreams of giving Marda, who is very fond of animals, a life where she will never again have to do the gruesome work of slaughtering rabbits and other animals for survival.
Miri is also tempted by the idea of a life in a luxurious house with fine things: “She looked at the painting. Before the academy, her only wish had been to work in the quarry alongside her pa. Now other possibilities were beginning to nudge and prod her” (112). This painting and its promises make it difficult for Miri to be content with an ordinary life on Mount Eskel. The painting comes to represent a sense of possibility, and it becomes a reminder of the choices before her.
However, Olana later reveals that the house in the painting is not real and was only meant to motivate the girls to study hard. While this shows Olana’s manipulative teaching style, it also represents the illusory nature of dreams and ambitions. Miri understands this, and she comes to realize that true happiness comes from focusing on things that matter, like human connection and meaningful work.
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