Gisa Barrow Character Analysis in Red Queen

Mare’s younger sister. Gisa has a crush on Kilorn. Unlike Mare, Gisa has a particular talent that makes her employable: sewing. Gisa attempts to help Mare steal money from the Silvers, hoping to buy Kilorn’s passage out of the Stilts so that he will not be conscripted, but she is caught with her hand in someone’s pocket. As punishment, a security officer crushes her sewing hand, and Gisa is left unable to work. Gisa loves Mare, but she becomes somewhat cold toward her sister in the wake of her injury. Mare has always sensed that Gisa is her mother’s favorite child because she is able to work a real, legal job. It seems that Gisa’s frustration over her injury is in part because by emulating Mare’s pickpocketing, she has lost the thing that sets her apart as the favorite child.

Gisa Barrow Quotes in Red Queen

The Red Queen quotes below are all either spoken by Gisa Barrow or refer to Gisa Barrow. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Biological Determinism and Social Inequality Theme Icon

). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Orion Books edition of Red Queen published in 2015.

I’ve always wanted her hair, though I’d never tell her that. Where hers is like fire, my hair is what we call river brown. Dark at the root, pale at the ends, as the color leeches from our hair with the stress of Stilts life. Most keep their hair short to hide their gray ends but I don’t. I like the reminder that even my hair knows life shouldn’t be this way.

Related Characters: (speaker),

Page Number and Citation: 13-14

Explanation and Analysis:

There are worse lives to live. Don’t feel sorry for me.

Related Characters: (speaker), ,

Page Number and Citation: 47

Explanation and Analysis:

Gisa Barrow Character Timeline in Red Queen

The timeline below shows where the character Gisa Barrow appears in Red Queen. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...have all been drafted. Upon leaving, each of them left Mare and her younger sister, Gisa, a set of earrings to split to remember them. Mare is saving up to give... (full context)

...shuffles her along to “the show.” Attendance is mandatory for everyone except “essential laborers,” like Gisa, who embroiders silk. Mare and Kilorn enter a massive arena, the largest structure in the... (full context)

...the private boats of rich Silvers heading to the king’s summer residence in Summerton, where Gisa apprentices to a seamstress. Mare looks at the porch flag on the way inside. It... (full context)

Inside, Mare’s mother cooks while fourteen-year-old Gisa embroiders. Her red hair contrasts Mare’s, which is brown at the root and light at... (full context)

...can before she goes away. Her reference to the war makes everyone fall silent, until Gisa remembers a letter from Shade that she got from the post on the way back... (full context)

...Kilorn so easily. Back at home, she lies awake thinking of how the decorative stockings Gisa embroiders must be worth the fortune she and Kilorn need. Mare shakes Gisa awake. She... (full context)

The next day, Mare accompanies Gisa into Summerton. Mare marvels at how upright everyone walks and how slowly they move, children... (full context)

A security officer asks Gisa and Mare for identification. Gisa says that Mare is helping her today with her apprenticeship.... (full context)

...she must set aside Kilorn and the two thousand crowns in the interest of finding Gisa and escaping the city before the gates close. Mare worries because she sees what the... (full context)

After bringing an injured Gisa home, Mare takes off running so that no one can find her, not even Kilorn.... (full context)

...to avoid conscription. Mare tells Cal that her sister has a job, before remembering that Gisa is not unemployed anymore. “Because of you,” she tells herself. (full context)

...they have both run from the house in which her mother is surely weeping over Gisa’s hand. Mare remembers remarks her father has made about the unfairness of the world, in... (full context)

Inside, Mare watches Gisa sleep, restless but holding her injured arm still. “Even in sleep, it hurts her,” Mare... (full context)

...she is going to be killed for her connection to Farley. Having nothing to give Gisa, Mare whispers, “I love you” as she departs. (full context)

...remembers each of her brothers’ departures when they were conscripted. She remembers her mother and Gisa’s tears, and her father and her own silence. She also remembers red blood dripping onto... (full context)

...new fictitious job as she has never been proud of any of Mare’s actual accomplishments. Gisa seems bitter still because of her broken hand. Mare’s brothers tease her, assuming Cal is... (full context)

...looking at Mare’s mother, though, and Mare realizes that Shade’s absence must not be incidental. Gisa tells her that Shade died before the discharge, beheaded for trying to run away. Mare... (full context)

...needs a cause, like Cal. Mare remembers all the times she felt inadequate compared to Gisa. Mare suggests that reforming her is Maven’s cause. She pretends cordiality with the king despite... (full context)