What is Abigail's importance in the novel, Abigail?

The eponymous statue of the novel, Abigail embodies the many secrets and hidden layers of the Matula as well as the ways in which Gina’s own relationship to the school changes over time. At the beginning of the novel, Gina looks upon Abigail and the legend around her with condescension, thinking of her classmates as mere children for their superstitions. However, when Abigail intervenes to help Gina and her peers over and over again — first to hide the tracks of her escape attempt, and then to help Bánki’s family — Gina begins to view Abigail with respect and awe while also beginning to see the underlying dramas of the Matula more clearly. As Gina considers various possibilities for Abigail’s true identity, she bases her hypotheses on outward appearances and assumes that Abigail could only be someone who looks strong and heroic. In this way, Abigail also acts as a projection of Gina’s own desire for a hero during a time of war while later challenging her conception of what a hero looks like.