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I am in admiration of the way that Szabó masterfully wrote the characters and the plot of the story. Gina’s arrogance and naivety at the beginning was not something I found annoying, but something I empathised with instead. Szabó conveyed this in a way where past these vices, you can see the hurt and fear Gina was experiencing because of the sudden uprooting of her life in Budapest into a strict, Christian boarding school. The reality of war and Hungary’s situation, seeped in through the cracks of Matula’s rigorous rules and preachings of a pious lifestyle, with the girls creating their own world of games and ceremonies within this black and white place. As much as we find comfort in these worlds that we create for ourselves, like Gina, we need to be present and awake with what is truly happening around us, and to put it simply, grow up.