Obedience vs. Independence: The nature of Ella’s curse of obedience and her rebellious nature are just one of the most prominent aspects of the novel. While her curse should threaten the very agency of Ella’s personhood, she instead finds ways to stall its effects while longing and making many attempts to break free of her curse on her own.
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Chapter 1: ‘”Instead of making me docile, Lucinda's curse made a rebel of me. Or perhaps I was that way naturally.” (p. 4)
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Chapter 3: “It was a terrible game I played, trying to break my curse, seeing how long I could last against the need to do what I had been told.” (p. 18)
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Chapter 5: “I'll go to finishing school." I couldn't help adding, "But I shall loathe it.” (p. 41)
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Chapter 10: "But in bed, before I fell asleep, I'd imagine what I would do if I were free of Lucinda's curse. At dinner I'd paint lines of gravy on my face and hurl meat pasties at Manners Mistress. I'd pile Headmistress's best china on my head and walk with a wobble and a swagger till every piece was smashed. Then I'd collect the smashed pottery and the smashed meat pasties and grind them into all my perfect stitchery.” (p. 84)”
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Chapter 29: “In that moment I found a power beyond any I'd had before, a will and a determination I would never have need if not for Lucinda, a fortitude I hadn't been able to find for a lesser cause.” (p. 268)
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Epilogue: “Decisions were a delight after the curse. I loved having the power to say yes or no, and refusing anything was a special pleasure.” (p. 274)
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Themes
Self-Sacrifice/Selfishness: Ella’s curse, if discovered by the wrong person, has the power to both endanger herself and those she cares about. It is because of this threat that Ella often finds herself cornered into making choices that, in the end, hurt her just as much as they could hurt others as she attempts to keep them safe and ignorant of her curse.
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Chapter 12: “Was there a way to stop being her friend without hurting her? I could pretend I had suddenly become mute so I wouldn’t be able to talk to her. But in that circumstance she’d be my friend as much as ever.” (p. 93)
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Chapter 25: “Cursed, I couldn’t marry him. But if I ever managed to break the curse, in a month or in twenty years, I would find him and win him over again if he was still free. No matter what I had to do, no matter how long it took. But now my only choice was to convince him to give me up.” (p. 218)
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Chapter 29: “But I had to obey – wanted to obey – hated to harm him – wanted to marry him. I would destroy my love and my land. They were in danger, and no one could rescue them. We were all doomed, all cursed. Char was too precious to hurt, too precious to lose, too precious to betray, too precious to marry, too precious to kill, too precious to obey.” (p. 266)
Materialism: Greed and monetary desire are the driving force for the novel’s antagonists. Sir Peter, Dame Olga and her daughters worry more about their wealth and its advancement, which in turn depicts them in a rather self-centered and selfish manner. In contrast, Ella is shown to care little for wealth and its supposed importance.
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Chapter 3: “We went upstairs and Hattie had to look everywhere. She opened the wardrobe in Mother's room and, before I could stop her, ran her hands over Mother's gowns. When we got back to the hall, she announced, "Forty-two windows and a fireplace in every room. The windows must have cost a trunkful of gold KJs." (p. 20-21)
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Chapter 11: “Areida was my only comfort. … She told me about her parents, who kept an inn. They weren't wealthy, another reason she was unpopular.” (p. 89)
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Chapter 18: "I shall have to sell our manor, our furniture, the carriage. And I shall have to sell you, in a manner of speaking. You must marry so that we can be rich again." (p. 151)
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Chapter 26: “You were her friend?" he asked. "You liked her?" I told him Ella was the best friend I ever had. He paused again, and I feared he would say she died. But he finally answered that he believed her to be well and married to a rich gentleman. He added, " She is happy, I think, She is rich, so she is happy." Without thinking, I blurted, "Ella doesn't care about riches." Then I realized I'd contradicted a prince! " How do you know?" he said. I answered, "At school everyone hated me because I wasn't wealthy and because I spoke with an accent. She was the only one who was kind." "Perhaps she's changed," he said. " I don't think so, your Highness.” (p. 237)
Power of Voice/Language: Ella’s gift with words and languages gave her a sort of agency that allowed her to learn and interact with various people and beings with respect. Simultaneously, language and the power of words play a vital role in the way Ella’s curse can manifest and, ultimately, breaks.
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Chapter 6: “We came to the parrot cages, my other favorite place. The birds spoke all the languages of the earth: human foreign tongues and the exotic tongues of Gnomic, Elfian, Ogrese, and Abdegi (the language of the giants). I loved to imitate them, even though I didn't know what they were saying.” (p. 48)
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Chapter 9: “She started to teach me right then. Once heard, always remembered is the way with languages and me. By the end of an hour I was forming short sentences. Areida was delighted.” (p. 74)
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Chapter 29: “Words rose in me, filled my mouth, pushed against my lips. Yes, I'll marry you. Yes, I love you. Yes! Yes! Yes! I swallowed, forcing them down, but they tore at my throat. A strangled noise erupted from me, but not words, not consent.” (p. 266)