The Silence of the Girls Themes

In The Silence of the Girls, it first appears that myths and legends are written by the victors—winners of wars, men in misogynistic societies, and owners in slave societies—while oppressed and defeated people die with their stories forgotten. Yet the novel eventually suggests that, though oppressed and defeated people don’t get to control the dominant narratives of their lives, their counternarratives nevertheless persist. This idea is clearest in the novel’s description of songs. Briseis…

The Silence of the Girls represents misogyny as a structural force that poisons all relationships in misogynistic societies, even relationships involving high-status women or relationships between men. The poisonousness of misogyny is clear in the descriptions that narrator Briseis, a Trojan queen captured and enslaved by Greek warriors, gives of her early life. Though Briseis is born as a free aristocrat, her father gives her in marriage to the young king of Lyrnessus, Mynes…

The Silence of the Girls represents slavery as a unique form of dehumanization—one that encourages not only enslavers but the people who have been enslaved to view slaves as objects rather than people. This dynamic is clear in the enslavement of Briseis, a young Trojan queen captured and enslaved by the Greek warriors attacking Troy. The same night that the Greek army gives her to their greatest warrior, Achilles, as a trophy, Achilles…

In The Silence of the Girls, revenge is an understandable yet ultimately destructive response to a loved one’s violent death. Revenge never actually solves the problem of grief because it cannot bring a dead loved one back to life. This dynamic is clearest in Greek warrior Achilles’s berserk killing spree and his desecration of Trojan prince Hector’s corpse after Hector kills Patroclus in battle. It is clear to several observers, and even…