Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Penelopiad, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Storytelling, Textual Authority, and Falsehoods
Class, Womanhood, and Violence
Antiquity, Modernity, and Progress for Women
Christianity vs. Greek Religion
Summary
Analysis
The final chapter of The Penelopiad is in the form of a poem narrated by the Maids. They say that they were voiceless, nameless, and without any choice, and that they unfairly took the blame. Now, they say, they follow Odysseus and call out to him. The Maids transform into owls and then fly away.
In the closing section of the text, the Maids remind the reader that, as slave women, they lacked voices and names to tell their story, and as a result, they were unable to defend themselves against slander. In a nod to other Greek tales of metamorphosis, Atwood then ends her book on this haunting note.
Themes
