The things I admire most about Mireille are her intelligence, her
courage, and her tenacity. It took a lot of intelligence for Mireille to
figure out the formula. In fact, she is the first of the nuns (except,
possibly, for the abbess) to realize the nature of the secret hidden in
the Montglane Service. Her courage is also obvious; there are many
examples to choose from, but I think the first time we see it is in the
scene where she tries to save Valentine from the massacres, and almost
gets killed herself.
I especially admire the way Mireille keeps going on in her quest for
the secret of the Montglane Service, in spite of all the horrible things
that happen to her. Of course, she gets very emotional (think of the
scene where she cries in the gazebo), but that is only to be expected
after everything that has happened. She never lets it stop her, though,
and she never gives up. Mireille leaves the Game only when she is 200
years old and Catherine is ready to take her place. Even then, Mireille
lives in danger.
Another thing I admire is the way Mireille adapts to the hard life of
the desert. After living in David's house, where she had servants to do
everything for her, Mireille adjusts surprisingly well to the difficult
conditions in the desert. Even with Shahin to help her, this was not easy
to do; I'm sure that the experience in the desert was completely different
from anything Mireille could have imagined when she was at the convent or
at David's house. Mireille comes to love the desert, too; we can see this
in the descriptions she gives in her diary. (By the way, I think this is
an important difference between Mireille and Catherine; Catherine never
really gets to like the desert; her experience in the desert is
frightening. Of course, Catherine and Lily didn't have anyone like Shahin
to help them.)
Much of what I admire about Catherine is similar to what I admire about
Mireille: her intelligence, tenacity, and courage. I also admire
Catherine's toughness and independence. Catherine knows how to be tough
without being mean, which is very difficult to do. She also deals well
with difficult situations in her job. At the age of 23, she has already
accomplished a lot; she has a relatively high position in computing for
someone her age. And at the time this takes place, Catherine's job was
usually done by men. I figured out that Catherine must have graduated
from college at the age of 20, since she has been working as a computer
expert for three years before the book begins. This means that Catherine
probably graduated from high school at 16, or that she took less than four
years to finish college; either way, she is unusually intelligent.
Catherine seems to know exactly what to do in a tough situation. Even
going to Algeria by herself took courage, especially since she knew almost
nothing about Algeria before she was sent there. Catherine certainly
knows how to get along very well in foreign countries and at foreign
airports. And as soon as she gets to Algiers, Catherine is interrogated
by Sharrif, with a man with a gun at the door; I admire the way she gets
herself out of that situation. No matter how much trouble she is in,
Catherine always manages to find a way out of it. There are many other
examples of this: when she and Lily think they are trapped in the cave,
Catherine finds a way to get out. Catherine knows what to do when she is
at the bottom of the ocean, with the White team shooting at her. When she
and Lily are in the desert, they are eventually rescued, of course, but
before that, Catherine finds a way to keep herself and Lily alive before
the airplane comes along to rescue them.
I also admire Catherine's knowledge of computers, and her analytical,
scientific mind. In her quest for the Montglane Service, Catherine wants
to analyze everything. This is another difference between her and
Mireille (see my article on differences between Mireille and Catherine for
more about this); Mireille is not really scientifically-minded until the
end of the book, when she's figuring out the formula.
Copyright 1997 Vicki Kondelik.