The Importance of Contemplation in Sister Helena's Life

Sandy muses on the fact that Brody is interested in fascism and in Italian art, but she has no time for Catholicism. It could be very much that Sandy desired a life of contemplation because she found her initiation into the world of adulthood was one filled with treachery and a huge humiliation. Muriel Spark realizing fame. She's there clutching the bars of the grill, as if she's a prisoner. But really, she's aprisoner of the outside world.