February 27, 2022

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by gnhawk

by gnhawk

Book response

1. My opinion on Thetis is that she is a crabby witch. Thetis is Achilles's mother and she is overall a horrible being. Thetis married Peleus who is the king of Phthia, this made Achilles the prince which is how Patroclus (former son of an argonaut) and Achilles met. But in all honesty, who would want to be with a woman who looks like she woke up on the wrong side of the bed, then stepped on legos on her way down to get breakfast where she found there was no milk after pouring cereal. Thetis is extremely hateful on top of everything. Thetis hates Patroclus because Patroclus is a commoner and wants Achilles to leave him. For like most of the book she just arises from the sea and talks trash about Patroclus. There are literal songs portraying Achilles's downfall after Patroclus's death and how he wanted to KILL HIMSELF because he was so sad, and Thetis just did not care. The only nice thing she did was keep Patroclus's body from decaying after he died so Achilles could cry over it every night. So in conclusion, yes, she is crabby.

2. How did Patroclus get angry over dice and KILL someone else. So Patroclus essentially was a skinny YOUNG boy who was playing with dice. Another boy was playing and Patroclus got all angry and killed him. Listen, I love my boy Patroclus but how in the world did he get so worked up over a game of dice and kill someone else. Like Patroclus was rejected by his father and stuff his entire life, but he cannot just kill someone. I believe if Patroclus and his father went to family therapy this would not have happened. Imagine someone like my sister just goes and kills someone, that would be kinda crazy.

4. The story is a very famous tale of love and loss. There are many stories and songs based off of it. There are movies based off of the Battle of Troy. The battle of Troy happened when Helen was kidnapped and everyone went berserk. The war on the "good" side was led by Achilles because he was one of the greatest warriors of all time. It lasted many many years and discouragement was looming. There's a song Achilles come down by, Gang of Youths, which is about (you guessed it from above) the downfall of Achilles. And his depression after Patroclus was dead. The feeling of desperation was also compared to the feeling during covid. But I do not feel that being quarantined is relatively close to the feeling of losing your soulmate.

10. Achilles's drive is based on his lust for fame and the fact that he wants to prove his mother wrong. As a kid, once old enough he is sent to go and learn war. He learns how to fight with my homeboy chiron and he is kinda spoiled because everyone tells him that he is going to be the best or one of the best soldiers of all time. Crabby Thetis obviously is swell with the idea of her little baby boy Achilles being famous. I think Thetis wants Achilles to be great and famous and be remembered, however she is just overall a terrible mother. She pushes him to be different from the person he is at heart and he becomes greedy with power. He forgets his entire pastime with Patroclus pretty much.

8. The setting is pretty much self explanatory. It's in ancient Greece, I know this because first of all, it's about the Greek warriors. The names can also be a huge part of finding the setting. The names are very ancient and it can be explanatory in that way that they are not modern. Also the fighting, we do not use spears anymore.

13. I think the title is inspired by a theme in the book about the lyre. Patroclus's mother had a lyre which is a musical instrument from ancient greece. And once Patroclus is exiled from his entire family, his father sells all of the stuff. The lyre ends up with Achilles and he loves it and can produce beautiful music. This is a tie that they have always had. In some ways they are making the music together making it the song of Achilles.

7. The theme came to me when Patroclus and Achilles met because there was this instant connection between them. They were each other's best friends. This sets up the theme that they were extremely close friends. However with Achilles's lust for power and fame, he soon forgot about his loyalty to Patroclus, while Patroclus continued to stay loyal to him. When Patroclus died and fell off the mountain trying to end the war, Achilles realized that it was his fault because he had been neglecting his true heart and ignored Patroclus. He was blinded by the lights after it was too late.