The Song of Achilles

At the beginning of the novel, Patroclus envies Achilles his confidence and the respect it brings him, especially from his father. Consider what enables Patroclus to overcome his jealously and its significance on his actions and choices throughout the novel.

The Song of Achilles features numerous instances of foreshadowing. Discuss the relationship between this literary technique and the novel’s theme of fate as immutable. Use at least three specific examples of foreshadowing in your discussion.

Discussing his exile, Patroclus notes that noblemen “might permit a king to burn their fields, or rape their daughters, as long as payment was made. But you did not touch a man’s son” (17). Examine the role of women in the novel. Refer to at least three specific characters in your discussion.

Explore the characterization of Achilles and Patroclus in the novel. To what extent does each fulfill and subvert traditional ancient Greek notions of what it means to be a hero?

When Odysseus appeals to Achilles to rejoin the battle, he tells him, “The rest of us are forced to wait for your leisure. You are holding us here, Achilles. You were given a choice and you chose. You must live by it now” (292). Using specific examples, examine the effect of prophecies on Patroclus and Achilles’s decisions throughout the novel. To what extent do prophecies impact choices, and to what extent are they self-fulfilling?

Discuss Miller’s use of Homeric similes in the text. Use at least three specific examples from the text in your discussion.

Though horrified by the carnage of war, Patroclus listens to Achilles’s battle stories, saying he wanted “to digest the bloody images, to paint them flat and unremarkable on to the vase of posterity” (212). Why does he believe that doing so will reaffirm Achilles’s humanity?

At the end of the novel, Odysseus attempts to convince Pyrrhus to include Patroclus’s name on Achilles’s tomb, telling him, “But fame is a strange thing. Some men gain glory after they die, while others fade. What is admired in one generation is abhorred in another” (347). What does Odysseus mean by this, and what is Miller trying to say about fame and values in both the ancient world she depicts and the modern world?