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
One day, Patroclus stands in a field holding a pair of dice—he can’t remember who gave them to him, because it certainly wasn’t his father or mother. He’s just escaped the palace trainer, whom his father hired after the tournament to train Patroclus. A boy named Clysonymus walks over. He’s the son of a nobleman and he demands that Patroclus hand him the dice. Patroclus refuses and shoves Clysonymus, which only ensures that there will be a fight; Clysonymus can’t walk away now, as Patroclus is famously weak and it would be dishonorable to let him win.
The dice are likely the same dice Tyndareus’s soldier gave Patroclus. At the time, they were a gesture of kindness, but now they’ve taken on an entirely new meaning. That Patroclus can’t remember who gave him the dice can be taken as indicating that Patroclus—who has been working with a trainer tasked with turning him into the man his father wants him to be—has forgotten that former lesson of kindness. That lost memory of kindness is connected to honor and manhood—the dice are now meaningless to him, but he’s willing to fight to prove his manhood. Clysonymus is also defending his honor here, but in an entirely different way: Patroclus is known as being weak, so Clysonymus has to beat him in order to maintain his own honor. This implies that, in this society, honor perversely compels the strong to show their strength by dominating the weak.
Themes
Clysonymus calls Patroclus a coward, claiming that Patroclus’s father said the same thing. Patroclus imagines how his father would say that word—coward—and he shoves Clysonymus again. Their land is full of grass, so Patroclus tells himself that the shove is harmless—but he also knows that there are rocks all around. Sure enough, Clysonymus hits a rock and dies. Patroclus has never seen someone die and he runs away, shell-shocked and sick.
Clysonymus’s use of Patroclus’s father’s insult shows that these warped definitions of honor and “manliness” are ingrained in Greek boys from a young age. Patroclus seems lost in this toxicity: on the one hand, he knows that in fighting Clysonymus in this spot he might really hurt him because of the rocks; on the other hand he is appalled when he actually does harm and kill Clysonymus. In fighting for his honor, he does something that seems dishonorable, which seems to indict the Greek conception of honor more generally.
Themes
Later, Clysonymus’s family demands exile or death for Patroclus—they’re nobles, so Patroclus’s father has to give in. He agrees to exile his son, a cheaper solution than killing him and then paying for a funeral—though stripping Patroclus of his title and inheritance is a fate worse than death. Now an orphan, Patroclus leaves his kingdom for Phthia.
Patroclus’s father continues to somehow always act in the cruelest way possible: his son is facing tragedy, and all he cares about is what saves him the most money while still finding a way to conform to the dictates of honor. Meanwhile, that same honor is seen by the Greeks as more important than life itself: death is seen as being better than losing status and reputation. Note also that all of these events are the result of a fight over dice, which are traditionally linked to chance and fate, subtly implying that this exile was destined to happen to Patroclus.
Themes
Phthia is a small country; its king, Peleus, was always a favorite with the gods due to his devout faith. As a reward, they gave him a sea-nymph as a wife, who provided him with a half-god son. Even better, the Fates prophesized that the sea-nymph’s son would outshine his father, so Peleus’s family line was secure. However, the sea-nymph, Thetis, was unwilling to marry Peleus, and Peleus had to seize her so she couldn’t shape-shift; as soon as he deflowered her, she was bound to him. The gods forced her to remain with Peleus for a year, and she had just one child. Now, she only visits Phthia to see the boy, who is otherwise raised by Peleus and Peleus’s advisor, Phoinix. A normal wife would have been happy with Peleus, Patroclus knows, but Thetis despises Peleus for his mortality.
The novel reintroduces to Peleus, who was earlier lauded for his kindness. It says a lot about this society that Peleus would be considered kind given the story of his marriage to Thetis. The gods essentially sanctioned a sexual assault, and Peleus went along with it in order to better his own prospects and secure a powerful son. Even though Thetis is a goddess able to shape-shift, she’s still powerless in this situation. Her virginity is apparently a significant part of her, because once she’s no longer a virgin, she has to stay with Peleus. The prophecy about Peleus’s son, who won the race earlier in the novel, establishes the relationship between Peleus and his son as essentially the exact opposite of the relationship between Patroclus and his father: Peleus’s son can literally never disappoint him and will always bring Peleus honor and status.
Themes
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Patroclus arrives in Phthia with no belongings of his own, only gifts for the royal family—including his mother’s lyre, which was once part of her dowry. When Patroclus arrives, Peleus is gone, so his son greets Patroclus instead. This is the same blonde boy who won the race. He lounges on a bench and plays with a lyre, his features strikingly beautiful. When he demands that Patroclus introduce himself, Patroclus is reluctant—the name “Patroclus” means “honor of the father,” but the boy doesn’t make the cheap joke that Patroclus expects. He introduces himself as Achilles and appears bored with the conversation; Patroclus leaves, silently dismissed.
In many ways, Patroclus seems to be in the same position his mother was in when she married Menoitius, powerless, traded and treated like a commodity—he even has the dowry to prove it. At the same time, the situations are also quite different: Patroclus might be powerless now, but he got into this situation because he asserted his power, something his mother could never do. The fact that Achilles makes no effort to mock Patroclus’s relationship with his father the same way Clysonymus did marks Achilles as unique. Achilles may be dismissive and lazy, but he isn’t cruel and doesn’t seem interested in the sort of petty scuffling for honor that is so evident in other characters.
Themes
It turns out that Patroclus isn’t Peleus’s only foster son; the kingdom is full of them, the result of Peleus’s charity. There’s even a barracks-like room where they all live. The other boys try to talk to Patroclus, even offering to play dice with him, but Patroclus sharply refuses. He notices Achilles from across the hall at dinner, surrounded by adoring boys who laugh at his every word. Patroclus remembers his father’s admiration of Achilles and how he believed that Achilles was what a son is supposed to be.
Peleus’s generosity in taking in so many foster sons does mark a strong contrast to Patroclus’s father, who was always focused on making or saving money. This is a different view of fatherhood and honorable behavior. Patroclus’s refusal to play dice is obviously tied to Clysonymus’s death, and can be read as a refusal also to play with the fate and honor that are now symbolically connected to the dice. Patroclus’s apparent jealousy of Achilles here stems from how everyone else admires Achilles—the other boys, Patroclus’s father. But it is notable that Achilles himself hasn’t acted badly at all, or even whether Achilles cares about such things.
Themes
That night, Patroclus is plagued by nightmares about Clysonymus’s dead body, but he wakes up before Clysonymus can speak, which is good because the voices of the dead are known to make the living insane. The Greeks also believe that the dead can cause physical harm, so Patroclus lives in mortal fear. The next day, the boys begin training together in combat. Patroclus realizes that, in this way, Peleus’s charity happens to ensure him an unusually loyal army. Luckily, Patroclus is easily ignored on Phthia—it’s just like home. The nightmares recur, each more gruesome than the last.
It's possible that Patroclus’s many nightmares are the work of the gods, and it’s possible that Clysonymus’s ghost is truly dangerous and out to harm him. It’s also possible—and maybe more likely—that Patroclus just feels guilty about the murder and the dreams are a manifestation of that guilt. This guilt, despite the action that caused it, shows that Patroclus remains unconvinced about whether the honor offers reason enough to kill another. This passage also demonstrates that even if Peleus is a kind ruler, he has an ulterior motive for that kindness: the boys he takes in become an army that will never betray him. It’s a perverse logic, even cruel, and again suggests that Peleus might not be as kind as everyone thinks—or that Greek society doesn’t think of “kindness” the same way a modern reader would.
Themes
