Katsa spends a fair amount of her life isolated, partly because of her Grace—which scares the wallabies out of most people in the seven kingdoms—but also because of her choices. And toward the end of Gracelings, after Po sustains his injuries he attempts to isolate himself from pain by isolating himself from others. One thing we learn from all of this isolation is that there's a big difference between isolation by choice (which may be more accurately called solitude) and isolation that occurs despite one's attempts and desires to fit in.
Questions About Isolation
- Which would be worse: to be ostracized by others because of a physical trait that you were born with (like Katsa's Graceling eyes), or to be isolated because of choices you've made (like Katsa's decision never to marry or have children)? Explain.
- Isolation can be devastating. (See Stephen King's The Shining for an extreme example.) What coping mechanisms does Katsa use to keep the isolation she feels as a Graceling from taking over her life and making her completely miserable?
- What other characters, aside from Katsa, experience isolation and how? Whose isolation do you think is the worst? Why?
Chew on This
In terms of isolation, the character that suffers the most in Graceling is [Katsa, Po, Bitterblue, Raffin, someone else].
The choice that Katsa and Po have made, to be together without getting married, is bound to isolate them somewhat from their friends and family.