With twenty girls vying for the attention of one prince, Princess Academy might as well turn into a reality show. It has a lot of the hallmarks of one—catty girls, suspicions of cheating, and steep competition—and as soon as the girls show up at the academy, there's a lot of envy and competition over who does the best in their classes. This means that as the best reader, Miri is immediately hated by most of the girls.
Even though becoming academy princess doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be chosen by the prince, every girl wants to be the one he dances with first. Who will be the last one standing? Only the prince can make that decision.
Questions About Competition
- Why does Katar take the academy princess distinction so seriously?
- Does Tutor Olana pit the girls against each other? How so?
- Why does Britta hold back and pretend to know less than she really does?
- Why does Miri want to become academy princess even though she's not sure she wants to be princess?
Chew on This
Though Katar remains competitive and refuses to be friends with Miri through their time at the academy because she wants to win, it is by opening up to Miri that she finally gets her chance to go to the lowlands with Britta at the end.
Miri only wants the prince because of the competition aspect; once she becomes academy princess, she realizes that she doesn't actually want to marry him at all. She loves Peder.