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Chapter 40: Penelope
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Thousand Ships, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Legitimizing Women’s Experiences
Sexism
Fate and Human Agency
Hubris, Violence, and War
Storytelling and Narrative Control
Summary
Analysis
The Moirai are three powerful women who determine the span of each mortal’s life. Every day they perform the same jobs: Clotho spins the thread of a life, Lachesis determines its length, and Atropos cuts it when that person’s life is ended. Clotho has suggested they trade jobs, but neither of the others want her laborious task of spinning fleece into string. Sometimes Lachesis misjudges the length or Atropos misses her signal, resulting in a life cut short or lengthened incorrectly. Occasionally the thread falls apart before there is a life to measure. Clotho tries not to think of those particular mistakes, which she knows indicate “a grieving mother, standing over a cradle, howling at the unhearing sky.”
The Fates, often referred to as a collective, here obtain individuality and nuance. In particular, this interlude focuses on Clotho, who literally weaves the fates of humans. Although the Moirai are undoubtedly powerful women, the novel highlights their fallibility—like any mortal, they make mistakes. Unlike other immortals who are indifferent to human suffering, Clotho in particular feels sorrow for these occasional blunders. Additionally, she assumes that most lives lost result in grieving mothers, implying that women suffer inordinately in comparison to men.
Active
Themes
