//tw sexual assault and violence and also iliadposting on main// i've been thinking a lot about the change in my feelings towards achilles from reading the iliad in high school to now
back then, achilles' actions felt petty and selfish- he was punishing the entire greek army, many of whom would die without him in battle because one of his SLAVES was taken away. his SLAVES!!!! i couldn't see past the selfishness i perceived in that action- allowing others
to die because he lost control over one human life. and to a certain extent, i think it is about his loss of control. but i have thought about the life experiences that have led me to being more sympathetic towards achilles and all of them have to do with my own loss of control
and marginalization, my loss of agency after being r*ped, specifically. the value of Achilles' life is tied to briseis' life. briseis is a symbol of his honor, someone/something that he is being compensated with. achilles knows he will die an early death by fighting in this war
and the only recompense is the honor and glory that he will continue to receive after he dies. briseis is a part of that. i thought of Achilles as a symbol of power, a symbol of the oppressor in high school
but after having something taken away from me, something that was so tied to the value of my life, my agency, it is so much easier to see achilles as the marginalized. i mean he literally IS on the margins of society, on the margins of the trojan war for most of the story
i can't separate achilles from the other positions of power that he holds. but i have recognized the ways in which he is a marginalized person throughout the iliad and is only able to reclaim power by putting himself in harm's way and accepting his own death
i still want to write that essay about how achilles' rage is functionally similar to the way that black rage has erupted in response to the seizure of their agency and in a much larger sense, the value of their human lives... but i have 2 many thoughts on it rn
like even in the response to violence against human life value (for achilles, the seizure of briseis, and for black ppl, their lives), the withdrawal from society is coded as socially destructive-- in achilles' case, the withdrawal can be the actual withdrawing from battle
for black ppl, withdrawal can look like protests, riots, anything that separates them from the mainstream expectation of maintaining status quo
inch resting...... i will be thinking about this more
Read my article for more of me ranting 😈😈 https://twitter.com/girlygoblin/status/1278380929657028609
You can follow @girlygoblin.
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