“Still, I hesitated. I knew all too well that, while the first step is the hardest, the second isn’t much easier. In that moment, little more than a breath, I could almost hear Papa urging me on. ‘Be bold,’ Papa would whisper in our native, little-used Serbian tongue. ‘You are a mudra glava. A wise one. In your heart beats the blood of bandits, our brigand Slavic ancestors who used any means to get their due. Go get your due, Mitza.’”

This quote emphasizes three important elements of Mileva’s character. The first is the support system she receives from her father, who encourages her to defy societal norms and pursue a career in math and physics. The second is Mileva’s connection to her Serbian heritage, a culture and language that provides her with an emotional home when she moves to Switzerland. The third is Mileva’s confidence that her hard work ought to be rewarded and that she deserves success.

“I walked a fine line between my insistence on this untrodden path and the conformity still demanded of me.”

Here, Mileva identifies her most important external and internal conflict. She can’t stop pursuing the “untrodden path” while still navigating “conformity.” This is evident in her presence at the Polytechnic: She is given exclusive admission to attend classes with men, but there are still important social rules that divide her from those men. Mileva knows what she is capable of, but she is also oppressed by societal norms that prevent her from reaching her full potential. This quote sets the tone for the rest of the novel.

“We’d been told that, even though they adamantly maintained their independence and neutrality in the face of the relentless European empire building that surrounded them, the Swiss looked down upon those from the eastern reaches of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. And yet the Swiss were the most tolerant people in other ways; they had the most lenient university admissions for women, for example. It was a confusing contradiction.”

Benedict emphasizes the complexity of cultural politics in Europe at the turn of the 20th century. Switzerland is a setting for both progress and xenophobia, for inclusivity and oppression.