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Curie occupies a unique position in the novel because, though she appears as a supporting character in the overarching narrative about Citra and Rowan, her frequent journal entries reveal far more about her thoughts and opinions than most other characters, and their frequency makes her one of the book’s primary characters. In person, Curie can be intensely cryptic, a mystique she intentionally cultivates. Regretful of the more radical views she held in her youth, Curie still has a reformer’s spirit, though this energy is mainly now channeled into her journal where she pens insightful and even blistering critiques of Scythedom and its society.
Curie takes her responsibility as a scythe seriously, but she intentionally cultivates hobbies that provide her with a healthier distance from this work than other scythes demonstrate. She enjoys cooking and makes tasty homecooked meals for herself, Citra, and the surviving relatives of those she gleans. Though the meals for families form a critical aspect of her professional approach to her work, her hobby also means that Curie is the only scythe depicted as having anything resembling leisure time. Unlike both Faraday and Goddard, Curie has a life and identity outside of her work and is all the better for it. As such, she demonstrates to Citra that becoming a scythe does not have to mean sacrificing all aspects of one’s former self.
