Identity

Identity serves as a point of tension for Mare throughout the novel, and her journey to find stability and faith in herself highlights the fluidity of identity. This fluidity is marked by how her identity changes according to circumstance. Starting at the very beginning of the novel, Mare struggles to understand her identity. When she wakes up on the mersive, she thinks to herself that her previous identities have died: “Mare of the Stilts died the day she fell into a lightning shield. Mareena, the lost Silver princess, died in the Bowl of Bones. And I don’t know what new person opened her eyes on the Undertrain” (31). This sentiment continues throughout the events of the novel, as she tries to discover what things do define the new person she has become. Her identity is remarkably fluid throughout much of the novel, and she shifts between...