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Chapter 8
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
Chiron teaches Achilles and Patroclus a wide variety of skills, everything from poultice-mixing to spear-carving to cooking. One day, Chiron teaches them about surgical instruments and anatomy, noting that death would be quickest in the temple—he points to Achilles’s temple as an example, unnerving Patroclus. Later, he tells them stories about heroes, including Heracles; in his madness, Heracles killed his wife and kids because he didn’t recognize them. Achilles doesn’t understand why the gods would do this—it was an unjust punishment because it was worse for Heracles’s wife than for him. But Chiron argues that maybe it’s worse to be left alone when someone is gone. Patroclus, listening, thinks that he would always recognize Achilles, even if he went mad.
Achilles came to Pelion to train to become a warrior, but Chiron seems to be teaching him everything but that, and the things he teaches have more to do with healing than with hurting. Patroclus’s discomfort at the reminder of how Achilles could die is both a sign of Patroclus’s love for Achilles, but also a foreshadowing of Achilles’ fate. The story about Heracles is important. It demonstrates how cruel the gods can be and how disposable humans are to them, especially women. Second, it once again demonstrates how little Patroclus and Achilles understand about life and death. Achilles naively assumes that dying is the worst thing that can happen to someone. Patroclus, meanwhile, thinks that his human love would allow him to break free of divine madness, but there is no reason to believe that he would have such control over his fate. Also, in putting himself in Heracles shoes, Patroclus is neglecting Achilles fate—that Achilles is the one most likely to be like Heracles.
Themes
Chiron also shares a story of a hero he taught who spared the life of a snake. The snake supposedly told him secrets about herbs in exchange for his life—but really, Chiron was the one who taught the hero about herbs. Achilles wonders whether this bothers Chiron, since the snake is getting credit for Chiron’s work, but Chiron, smiling, says it doesn’t. Later, the two listen to Achilles playing the lyre. It’s the same lyre that belonged to Patroclus’s mother. On his first day on Pelion, Patroclus told Achilles he almost hadn’t come to Pelion, not wanting to leave it behind. Achilles said that he now knows how to make Patroclus follow him anywhere.
Chiron doesn’t care about honor the way other Greeks do. The fact that a snake is taking credit for the things he taught the hero doesn’t faze him at all, and his demeanor suggests that Achilles is silly for thinking it would. That Achilles actually brought Patroclus’s mother’s lyre with him symbolically suggest he had no intention of leaving his innocence behind when he went to Pelion, and also perhaps that he wanted to bring something of Patroclus’s with him should Patroclus himself not follow. Note that Patroclus was ready to lose the lyre to follow Achilles, but Achilles was not ready to do the same.
Themes
Time passes on Mount Pelion and winter arrives. One day, Patroclus notices a strange stillness in the woods. He calls for Chiron, but Thetis appears instead. She tells Patroclus that he shouldn’t be there. As she walks toward him, threatening, the grass wilts beneath her. Chiron interrupts and sends Patroclus away. Annoyed, Thetis tells Chiron that he’s spent too much time with humans. Patroclus notifies Achilles that Thetis is here and that she didn’t hurt him—not mentioning that she clearly wanted to. With Chiron around, Patroclus doesn’t fear for his life, but he does fear that Thetis will ruin their happiness. Chiron later tells Patroclus that Thetis will come back to visit Achilles. Patroclus is just relieved that she must not have told Chiron about the kiss, since he’s not acting differently.
The grass wilting as Thetis passes against connects her with death—which is perhaps odd since her goal is to give Achilles immortality. Her monstrous image seems also to be connected to Patroclus’s perception of her and the way she represents Achilles’s violent and divine future—a future that leaves Patroclus behind. Thetis does seem to be prejudiced against humans, as she proves with her comment to Chiron, but humans have also given her zero reason to like them.. Meanwhile, Patroclus is making an assumption about Chiron’s lack of knowledge—Chiron may know about it, but may not think about it in the way Patroclus assumes.
Themes
When spring arrives, Achilles asks Chiron to teach them to fight. Patroclus wonders why Achilles asked, whether it was boredom or somehow motivated by Thetis’s recent visit. Chiron starts the training: he has the two perform drill. Afterwards, he tells Achilles that he has nothing to teach him; Achilles is already greater than any hero. He warns Achilles that men will want him to fight in their army, but Achilles responds that he doesn’t know yet whether he will. Chiron then tells Patroclus that he has the potential to be a competent enough soldier, but Patroclus doesn’t want to fight at all, thinking of Clysonymus, of Achilles’s prophecy, and of Thetis, who will steal Achilles away. They never practice soldiery again.
In the end, Achilles is the one to ask Chiron to teach him what Chiron was supposed to be teaching him all along. Chiron, meanwhile, doesn’t focus on Achilles’s skill but rather on its implications, warning Achilles that other people will want to use him. Chiron seems more interested in Achilles as a person than in Achilles as the half-god hero with a destiny. Patroclus, for his part, wants to avoid violence entirely, in part because he seems to think that by avoiding fighting he can help Achilles escape his destiny.
Themes
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Summer arrives and Achilles turns fourteen, receiving gifts from home. The messengers watch Achilles, Patroclus, and Chiron closely and Patroclus knows they’ll gossip about them at the palace. Some of the gifts are useful, like a bow and lyre strings, but some are absurd, like gold cloaks and studded belts. Later, Achilles asks whether Patroclus misses the palace; Patroclus doesn’t, and neither does Achilles. Two years pass in this peaceful contentment.
The messengers are reminders of Greek society outside Chiron’s camp—a world that judges others. The mix of gifts seem to mirror the mix of attributes of Achilles: his skills at fighting, his royal status, and his innocence and beauty.
Themes
