The Song of Achilles Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

Patroclus’s father was a king from a long line of kings. He married Patroclus’s mother when she was fourteen, due to her large dowry. But during the wedding he found out she was “simple”: she smiled when her veil was removed, something a bride never does. Patroclus, like his mother, is immediately disappointing at birth: he’s small, weak, and has no talents. He is unusually healthy, which only makes his father suspicious, worried that his son is somehow inhuman.

The novel immediately and efficiently makes clear that women in this society have very little power or agency. First, Patroclus’s father marries Patroclus’s mother not for love but for money: he marries her for her dowry (a sum of money given by her father to her husband). Second, the fact that she smiles at her wedding, indicating that she is happy to get married, is taken as incontrovertible evidence that she is simple-minded. This suggests that “normal” women are aware that marriage makes them powerless. The novel also quickly establishes the gender expectations for men in this society—they should be strong and physically talented—and through Patroclus’s father’s disdain for Patroclus shows how the society treats men who don’t meet that expectation. Patroclus’s father can’t recognize the physical strength Patroclus does have—being healthy—and protects himself from the embarrassment of being the father of such a boy by suspiciously wondering if in fact he isn’t Patroclus’s father.

Active Themes

When Patroclus is five, his father hosts an athletic tournament, welcoming men of all ages from across Greece. Patroclus isn’t allowed to compete—he simply holds the prize wreath—but he notices the runners. The youngest boys run first, and among them is a childlike blond prince who wins the race easily, heels “flashing” as he moves. Patroclus’s father takes the garland from Patroclus and crowns the boy, whose father, Peleus, proudly claims him. Peleus’s kingdom is small, but he supposedly has a goddess wife and is known to be kind. Patroclus’s father jealously tells Patroclus that the boy is what a son ought to be.

This passage illustrates the kind of boy Patroclus’s father would like Patroclus to be. The young boy who wins the tournament is athletic and strong, and having those traits is directly tied to that boy being seen as worthy and therefore being accepted and loved by his father and society. The description of the blond prince’s “flashing” heels is a moment of foreshadowing, as that blond prince will grow up to be Achilles, whose heels end up being very significant. Meanwhile, that Peleus is kind and has a goddess for a wife suggests that there is perhaps another way to be a man in this society that offers better results than those practiced by Patroclus’s father.

Active Themes

As an adult, Patroclus remembers little else about his childhood. One thing he does remember is skipping stones one time while his mother watched; she seemed to enjoy the ripples, or to just appreciate the sea. Patroclus watched light hit her temple, marking a scar where her own father struck her. This is the sole memory Patroclus has of his mother, and it seems too good to be true; his father wouldn’t have let his simple son and simple wife be alone.

The scar on Patroclus’s mother’s head makes clear that her father abused her. Whether he hit her because she was simple, or whether the blow is what made her simple, is almost beside the point. Either way, it again highlights the powerlessness of women, and the ways they are at the mercy of men. It also demonstrates that violence, in this society, underlies relationships that should be loving. Meanwhile, that Patroclus barely gets to spend time with his mother further details his father’s power, and, perhaps, the ways that boys in this society are separated from the influence of women.

Active Themes

The Song of Achilles

Madeline Miller

The Song of Achilles: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis