The Silence Of The Girls -

In this environment, women are reduced to objects, serving as concubines, nurses, and washerwomen while the men fight for glory. Briseis becomes the unwitting center of a major conflict when , the leader of the Greek forces, is forced to return his own captive and demands Briseis from Achilles as compensation. This insult causes Achilles to withdraw from the war, leading to disastrous losses for the Greeks. Key Themes & Perspectives Pat Barker on The Silence of the Girls

The narrative follows , once the queen of Lyrnessus, whose life is destroyed when the Greek army—led by the legendary warrior Achilles —sacks her city and murders her husband and brothers. Briseis is awarded to Achilles as his "war prize" and taken to the Greek camp outside the walls of Troy. The Silence of the Girls

by Pat Barker is a gritty, feminist retelling of Homer’s The Iliad , shifting the focus from the "shining" heroes of legend to the women who were treated as the spoils of war. The Core Story In this environment, women are reduced to objects,