Incarceron

“She swung over the bough and climbed down, wondering if there would be a present. […] Expensive and pretty and chosen for him by one of the ladies of the Court. Last time it had been a crystal bird in a gold cage that trilled a shrill whistle. Even though the whole estate was full of birds, mostly real ones, which flew and squabbled and chirruped outside the casements.

[…]

In her room Alys was dragging clothes out of the closet. A silken petticoat, the blue and gold dress over it, the bodice quickly laced. Claudia stood there and let herself be strapped and fastened into it, the hated cage she was kept in. Over her nurse’s shoulder she saw the crystal bird in the tiny prison, its beak agape, and scowled at it.”

This quote introduces the symbolism of cages, birds, and restrictive clothing, which represent The Ambiguity of Imprisonment and Freedom. Although Claudia is not inside Incarceron, she feels “caged” by social conventions and her father’s expectations. This feeling of being caged is exacerbated because of her upcoming arranged marriage to Caspar, whom she hates, and the expectation that she must move to his palace, which she regards as a “prison.”

“He thought of her as a tool. A thing he had made…bred, was his word. […] Long ago she had come to know his ruthlessness was so complete that to survive she would have to match it.

Did her father love her? […] She had no idea. Did she love him? She certainly feared him. He smiled at her, had sometimes picked her up when she was small, held her hand on grand occasions, admired her dresses. He had never denied her anything, had never struck her or been angry, even when she’d had tantrums and broken the string of pearls he’d given her, or ridden off for days to the mountains. And yet as far back as she could remember the calmness of his cold gray eyes had terrified her, the dread of his displeasure hung over her.”

This quote develops the distinction between perception and reality and foreshadows the fact that Claudia’s father has not been honest with her. She senses that he has affection for her, but she can tell that things are not what they seem and that he actually poses a great danger to her. These descriptions also create a red herring of sorts, for the narrative initially implies that the Warden is one of the primary antagonists in the story. This misconception will be strengthened throughout the narrative to mask the presence of far greater antagonists working in the shadows.