51 pages • 1 hour read
Meg CabotThe Princess Diaries
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2000A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Mia’s Diary
The Princess Diaries is a novel written as a series of diary entries, and as the story progresses, the diary itself becomes an important symbol of self-reflection and personal growth. In Mia’s first diary entry, she says that her mother “thinks [Mia’s] repressing [her] feelings” (1), so Mia was given the book to record her honest thoughts about her mother dating her teacher, Mr. Gianini. However, when Mia learns that she is the Princess of Genovia, the diary entries become more dramatic, more personal, and more secretive. The diary begins to morph into a vital mode of storytelling and not just a dumping ground for Mia’s passing thoughts and feelings.
When Mia learns that she is a princess, she starts recording thoughts in the diary that she is too afraid to say out loud. In particular, Mia finds herself writing down things that she doesn’t even tell Lilly, who is supposed to be her best friend. Mia says that she “[can’t] go to Lilly’s” because she is “vehemently opposed to any form of government that is not by the people” (47), so Mia is sure that her best friend will hate her when she learns that Mia is a princess. The diary becomes Mia’s internal monologue and the only way that she can safely express the fear, anger, confusion, and betrayal that she feels throughout the novel.
Mia brings the diary with her into secretive places, like the ladies’ room at The Plaza Hotel and the girls’ bathroom at Albert Einstein’s Cultural Diversity Dance. This represents the private nature of the diary and reiterates how deeply personal these thoughts and feelings are. Mia retreats into a place of safety and privacy when something is on her mind, and she is even known to sneak the diary out during algebra when she is supposed to be paying attention. She scribbles algebra notes and to-do lists in the diary as well, which represents her responsibilities’ invading what is meant to be a safe space for her to vent her frustrations.
Algebra Class
At the beginning of The Princess Diaries, Mia is less than a month into her first semester as a high school freshman, and she is already failing algebra. Mia insists that she is “generally a very good daughter” who “do[es] [her] homework most of the time” (78), and she usually gets decent grades in school. However, she currently has “one lousy F” (78), and for the entirety of the novel, this failing grade haunts Mia. Her failing grade in algebra represents her own personal obstacle that she must fight to overcome, and it puts her determination and commitment to the test.
Because of her failing grade, she is expected to “stay after school EVERY SINGLE DAY from 2:30 to 3:30 to practice the FOIL method” (3) with Mr. Gianini. Mia’s struggles with the class don’t stop at the end of the school day, and she is forced to give up chunks of her free time to try to grapple with the difficult concepts. Just when she thinks she is starting to understand the material, Mia complains that “all of a sudden there’s some NEW thing” (22) to learn, like the quadratic formula. Algebra never slows down, and even when Mia applies herself and tries her best to take good notes and concentrate, she feels like she can never catch up. Algebra becomes a huge source of anxiety for Mia, so much so that on Friday mornings, she revels in the knowledge that “two glorious, relaxing days [...] of NO Algebra are coming [her] way” (53).
Mia even resorts to cheating on her quiz by writing the quadratic formula on her shoe, but she still gets “every single one of [the questions] wrong anyway” (96). As her desperation grows, Mia has to overcome her frustration and accept help from Michael. With Michael’s and Mr. Gianini’s help, Mia is able to raise her F to a D by the end of the novel. Although Mia insists that she “won’t ever need Algebra in any foreseeable future career” (63), determination, hard work, and resilience in the face of a challenge will always be valuable life skills that she can use anywhere she goes. Algebra may not be relevant in the long term, but the perseverance she gains from wrestling with it helps prepare her for the bigger, more significant challenges that she will face as the eventual heir to the Genovian throne. Her tutorial sessions with her teacher and with Michael also provide extra glimpses into these characters’ warmth and support of Mia.
Dining Tables and Social Mealtimes
When Mia and Lilly fight over Mia’s hair and Lilly’s controlling behavior, Mia begins to worry about who she is going to eat lunch with at school on Monday. In books, movies, and TV shows, high school social classes are often categorized by lunch tables, and in the world beyond high school, tables represent not only a person’s friendships but also their social circles and even their political connections. People who share meals together often have some sense of common ground or kinship with one another, and to sit at a table with someone is to align oneself with them.
When Mia starts eating lunch with Tina, the two girls share similar social standings. Mia scans the cafeteria and sees a wide array of options, from “the jock table” to “the druggie table” to “the foreign exchange students table” (155). Mia systematically decides that she fits in at none of these tables, but she finally lands on Tina’s. Like Mia, Tina is an outsider with royal connections, and—also like Mia—Tina is called a “freak” by students like Lana. Mia and Tina create their own social circle, and before long, Lana and Josh want in.
When the news breaks that Mia is a princess, Lana invites Mia—and only Mia—to join her at her usual table. Mia is disgusted because she knows, “That lousy hypocrite wants to be friends with me now that I’m a princess” (190). Of course, Tina is excluded from this invitation. Lana wants to be associated with Mia now that she holds an impressive title that overshadows her former status as “freak.” When Mia declines, Lana, Josh, and their friends take more aggressive measures and invade Mia and Tina’s usual lunch table the next day. People like Josh and Lana understand the importance of optics, and even if they aren’t friends with Mia, creating the illusion of friendship—especially when reporters with cameras are at their school—can still elevate their social standing.
Similarly, Mia notes that her father and her grandmother each attend a variety of dinners and meals with important political allies. To share a meal with someone is to express an interest in forming or maintaining a connection, and Mia makes a point of showing Tina that she wants to maintain their friendship and connection by having lunch with her every day. Tables are more than just a trope for a high school cafeteria. The alliances that they signal also have real-world implications, especially in the political realm.
Bloodlines and Royal Titles
The Princess Diaries brings a modern twist to the traditional idea of monarchies, bloodlines, and the importance of ensuring an heir for a royal throne. Mia’s story doesn’t take place in a faraway kingdom or in the pages of a fairy tale but features an unlikely protagonist living in the heart of Manhattan. For Mia’s father and the people of Genovia, bloodlines are of the utmost importance, and when Mia’s father learns that he cannot have any more children, Genovia seems to be facing a real crisis. Someone must be prepared to take over when her father is gone. For Mia, accepting her royal title means accepting a completely different life as well as a different persona.
Although Mia does not initially understand the severity of her father’s infertility dilemma, she soon realizes the implications of this problem. After she was born, Mia’s mother and father agreed that “a palace is no place to raise a child,” and “there wasn’t any reason for [Mia] to know” (36) that her father was the prince of Genovia. The plan was to let Mia have a normal childhood, and her father would one day have another child to inherit the throne. However, Mia’s father admits that he has trouble “establishing close interpersonal relationships with women” (37), and as a result, he never produced another heir before his cancer rendered him sterile. Mia is now the only suitable heir for the Genovian throne, and this bloodline is necessary for continuing the leadership of Genovia.
When Mia’s father tells her that she is the Princess of Genovia, he explains that she is “not Mia Thermopolis anymore” (44). This statement seems to alarm Mia, and he goes on to say her full royal title: “Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, Princess of Genovia” (44). The title is not just an extension of Mia’s name; it is a heavy invitation to accept the role and responsibilities befitting the Princess of Genovia. Cabot attaches a distinct personality to both versions of Mia’s name. “Mia Thermopolis” is a high school freshman who hangs out with her friends in Manhattan, fantasizes about boys she has crushes on, and claims little responsibility outside of making sure her mother pays the electricity bill. “Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo,” however, has so many family names attached to her that she can’t be anything but the perfect princess: poised, beautiful, fair, dignified, self-sacrificing, and solemnly responsible for the people of her country. Mia fears this second version of her name because it represents all the things she believes she will never be able to achieve, and The Princess Diaries series centers around Mia’s growth into her full role as this “self-actualized” version of herself.
