Previous
Chapter 6
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Song of Achilles, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Honor, Pride, and Legacy
Fate, Belief, and Control
Gender, Power, and Agency
Love, Violence, and Redemption
Selfhood and Responsibility
Summary
Analysis
Patroclus and Achilles turn thirteen, and their bodies begin to change. In the barracks, the foster boys start having sex with serving girls, something common and accepted. Because Peleus doesn’t have a live-in wife, most of the women around the palace are war slaves rather than nobly-born ladies’ maids. They often become pregnant, which is good, as it produces more slaves. Sometimes the sex is nonconsensual; sometimes the men say it’s consensual, but that’s only their belief. Achilles and Patroclus don’t have sex with anyone, though Peleus sometimes offers serving girls to Achilles (and seduces them himself). Patroclus, for his part, is too shy, and he’s somewhat repulsed by the courting rituals; he watches the dull looks on the girls’ faces as boys paw at them, and he doesn’t want that for himself.
This is a pretty bleak look at what life is like for women in Phthia. Ironically, Peleus’s sexual assault of Thetis’s just leads to more sexual assault—her absence from the palace means that female war slaves are part of daily life (the novel implies that ladies’ maids wouldn’t be treated the same way). Even the “consensual” sex is deeply problematic, since the women can’t leave the palace and have no power to resist the demands of the men around them. The women don’t even have control over what happens to their children, who will be enslaved as soon as they’re born. It’s important to remember that Peleus is known for his kindness, so this behavior isn’t considered wrong at all—as Patroclus notes, it’s a normal part of life in Phthia. Achilles and Patroclus’s decision to abstain from sex could suggest a lot of things. Maybe they aren’t interested in women, or maybe Achilles is uninterested in the displays of power that “seducing” the war slaves involves. Patroclus definitely is uncomfortable with those power dynamics—once again, he proves he’s quite intuitive, as he can sense that the serving girls aren’t into what’s happening.
Themes
One night, Peleus is telling Achilles and Patroclus a story about the hero Meleager, the best and proudest fighter of his era. Patroclus is barely paying attention since he’s remembering a serving girl’s earlier comments about Achilles—she thought he looked at her. Peleus continues: one day, the king insulted Meleager, who then refused to fight for king’s army. Instead, he returned home to his wife. Patroclus fixates on Achilles’s fingers around his ankle as Peleus’s story unfolds. But Peleus soon notices that his son and Patroclus are distracted. He dismisses them, telling Achilles he should find the serving girl. Achilles refuses and says he’s too tired.
Peleus’s story feels important, particularly because Achilles is destined to be the best fighter of his era—and, in fact, the story once again offers foreshadowing about future events, which many readers will already know from Greek myth. This dramatic irony again acts to give readers a sense that Achilles’s fate is tightening its grip on him. But Patroclus, again, distances himself from that part of Achilles. Instead, he fixates on more mundane things, worried that a serving girl is interested in Achilles and focused on Achilles’s touch. It’s now obvious that Patroclus might see Achilles as more than a friend and that Achilles might feel the same way, since he’s uninterested in anyone else.
Themes
When the two return to their room, Patroclus asks Achilles whether he likes the serving girl. Achilles tackles Patroclus, saying he’s tired of discussing her. Patroclus notices everywhere their bodies touch. Achilles then jumps away. That night, Patroclus dreams about a familiar body, but he can’t name his feelings. He can’t stop these dreams, which return every night.
Patroclus is clearly attracted to Achilles, and there are signs that Achilles feels similarly. Patroclus’s dreams about Achilles are the second instance of recurring dreams in the novel. The first recurring were Patroclus’s nightmares about Clysonymus’s death. These two dreams are obviously different, but their juxtaposition suggests that Patroclus’s love for Achilles isn’t totally separate from violence—both the violence that Achilles is capable of dealing, and perhaps also the violence that Achilles as a likely future war hero may himself be forced to face.
Themes
One summer day, Patroclus and Achilles sit on the beach. Patroclus can smell him distinctly, and their feet touch. Achilles looks at Patroclus, and his gaze feels different somehow, more intense—it seems like he’s waiting for something. Patroclus shifts toward him, not knowing what he’s about to do. Unthinking, Patroclus kisses him. Shocked by his sudden rush of desire, he pulls back, noting Achilles’s surprised expression. Patroclus wants to apologize, but Achilles runs away, too fast for Patroclus. Patroclus prays that Achilles won’t hate him. As an adult, Patroclus will realize that he should never have involved the gods in something like that.
Achilles, as a peerless fighter, is meant to be physically intimidating as a fighter, but Patroclus flips that physical presence around, and it becomes part of his attraction to Achilles. It’s maybe surprising that Patroclus is the one to kiss Achilles first, but it’s also vaguely reminiscent of when he tackled Achilles after watching him fight, caught up in a rush of feeling. This interaction is the opposite of that one, because Patroclus is acting out of love, not jealousy or ill will. Achilles’s speed in running away, meanwhile, once again emphasizes his divine aspect—the part of him that Patroclus can’t touch. That speed, combined with Patroclus’s realization in hindsight that he should never have involved the gods in his relationship with Achilles, again points to the ways that Patroclus and Achilles are at the mercy of fate and the Gods.
Themes
Get the entire The Song of Achilles LitChart as a printable PDF.
When Patroclus heads back to the palace, Thetis blocks his path to tell him she saw the kiss. She’ll send Achilles away, she says, and Patroclus won’t be able to follow. Patroclus knows that if she were any other mother, her wishes wouldn’t matter, but she’s a goddess, so they do—there’s nothing he can do about it. Patroclus returns to the bedroom. Achilles seems almost hopeful, but Patroclus only notices how much he resembles his mother. Achilles says that he’ll soon leave to go to Mt. Pelion in order to train with Chiron, who trained warriors like Heracles. Achilles may have told Patroclus he didn’t want to be a god yet, but Patroclus knows Thetis has other plans. The next morning, Achilles leaves. When he glances back on his way out the door, Patroclus pretends to be asleep.
On Phthia, Thetis has a certain amount of power and can control Achilles’s life. If she were a mortal wife, she wouldn’t be able to do so, but since she’s a goddess, she can. Yet the way she asserts her limited power here is kind of sad: she can only control small, petty things, and exerts that control by separating Patroclus and Achilles—she seems to be unwilling to allow Achilles to love anyone other than her. Meanwhile, when Patroclus sees Achilles resemblance to Thetis it reminds him that Achilles is half-god—which makes him feel distant from Achilles. And just as Patroclus pulls back here, Achilles truly starts to step into his destiny, going to train with a legendary creature that trained previous demi-god heroes. It’s not clear whether Achilles really wants to go—the fact that he looks back at Patroclus implies that he’s at least conflicted—but Patroclus can’t bridge the gap between himself and Achilles divine self and destiny, and so he hides from it.
Themes
