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Alcimus
Helen is the stunningly beautiful Greek queen whose abduction by the Trojan prince Paris started the Trojan War. Because the Greeks use Helen’s abduction as a pretext to sack and loot the Trojan plain, the Trojans hate her—except King Priam, who is unfailingly polite to her. As an adolescent, Briseis meets Helen while visiting her older sister Ianthe, Priam’s daughter-in-law, at Troy. Briseis realizes that Helen is a talented weaver of tapestries representing the Trojan War and later takes her as a model of a woman who attempts to assert her autonomy and personhood through artistic storytelling.
Helen Quotes in The Silence of the Girls
The The Silence of the Girls quotes below are all either spoken by Helen or refer to Helen. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 17
Quotes
I was Helen now.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18
Quotes
What I came away with was a sense of Helen seizing control of her own story. She was so isolated in that city, so powerless—even at my age, I could see that—and those tapestries were a way of saying: I’m here. Me. A person, not just an object to be looked at and fought over.
Chapter 43
Quotes
“You won’t do it.”
“He’s a guest.”
“Not invited.”
“No, but accepted.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Silence of the Girls LitChart as a printable PDF.
Helen Quotes in The Silence of the Girls
The The Silence of the Girls quotes below are all either spoken by Helen or refer to Helen. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 17
Quotes
I was Helen now.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18
Quotes
What I came away with was a sense of Helen seizing control of her own story. She was so isolated in that city, so powerless—even at my age, I could see that—and those tapestries were a way of saying: I’m here. Me. A person, not just an object to be looked at and fought over.
Chapter 43
Quotes
“You won’t do it.”
“He’s a guest.”
“Not invited.”
“No, but accepted.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
