In Princess Academy, Miri often has to rely on her friendships to get her through the loneliness of being away from her family and home. She's isolated from a lot of the other girls, who are jealous of her academic success, and Tutor Olana certainly isn't a maternal figure. But she comes to know Britta better and to communicate with some of the other girls using quarry-speech, which Tutor Olana cannot decipher.
Plus she has the memory of Peder to keep her going; he's her best friend (and huge crush), and when things get hard, she thinks about seeing him again. Their friendship is so strong that when the bandits attack, she's able to call to him for help using quarry-speech.
Questions About Friendship
- How do Miri and Britta become friends?
- How has the relationship between Miri and Peder changed since they were kids?
- Do the older girls at the academy have a real reason to dislike Miri?
- Why do the girls help each other using quarry-speech during their last test?
Chew on This
By becoming friends with Britta, Miri realizes that she too was guilty of judging people based on where they come from. She needs to overcome her prejudices about lowlanders in order to see Britta's true self.
Miri's friendship with Peder seems like it's on the rocks once she's shipped off to the academy, but in fact, their relationship is just growing stronger and entering another stage.