From the very beginning Sadie and Marie were super strongly established characters, and both so unique, yet after their separation the strength of their characters has only increased. Both are clearly confident and without remorse, but each approach’s everything in such a completely different manor. Their approach was highlighted during the elocution contest. Marie is bright and expressive:

Marie stood on her tiptoes and waved her arms about as she recited the words in her pure and melodic voice. The audience was bewitched by Marie’s performance… They [ladies] were not supposed to act as though they were transported by their emotions.

Sadie on the other hand is dark and contrary:

She glared at the audience as she recited the words, curtly and viciously… The audience followed Sadie even if they didn’t want to… Sadie was offering a completely opposite reading of Goblin Market.

But even though they had two different ways of going about it,

The two readers had both broken many rules about what it meant to be a young woman and had gotten away with it.

I love this contrast in characterization, and it was fascinating to see how each of them (Sadie in particular,) just became more of what they were before during their separation. I cannot picture this ending well. Edited to fix formatting error.