Elizabeth Superfin, Period 6, 03/04/24

Modern Mythology Blog 3: Literature Circle

Chapter by Chapter reactions to A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

I put too much effort into this and it still doesn’t look like me.

Welcome to my chapter by chapter reactions to Natalie Haynes’s A Thousand Ships! Disclaimer: I did choose this book knowing that I didn’t enjoy Stone Blind (also by Natalie Haynes) when we read it in class. However, I thought this one sounded more interesting than the other options for our Literacy Circle blogs, so here we are! I will do my best not to let my preconceived biases against Natalie Haynes’s writing influence my view on the book– but I thought this disclaimer was necessary, just in case. Here… we… go!

Chapter 1

Short chapter; seemed to be more of a framing device for the book. Did Natalie Haynes herself ever pray to Calliope, or any of the muses, for guidance when writing her novels? It’s funny when writers speak of storytellers inside of the stories they themselves tell. Feels like we’re both laughing at the writer-ception.

Chapter 2

The title of this one should be “Dramatic Irony: The Chapter.” Reading reinterpretations of classic stories always feels odd because you, the reader, already know the core of the plot. You’re like Cassandra– you know how it will all end, but none of the characters in the story listen when you scream the future at them. That’s how I felt when Priam decided to drag the horse into the city. I knew how it would end. Almost everyone reading the novel knew how it would end. Sinon is a liar, the fires were caused by the Greeks, the Trojan horse should be burned as suggested by the priest. And yet, they brought the horse into the city anyway. I once read (in a screenshot of a Tumblr post, but hey, the sentiment was interesting) that good tragedies are tales where the characters had a million and one choices that they could’ve made to attain better outcome, but being who they were, they would have made the same tragic choices in every possible universe. Reading these reinterpretations makes me feel similarly. I know the ending will be tragic, because due to the nature of the stories each of these reinterpretations is based on, there are no choices that the characters in the story could make to avoid their doom. It’s simply who they are, doomed to the same fate in every version of the tale. Anyways, R.I.P Creusa. You were pretty cool.

Chapter 3

Briefly going back to the last chapter before I write my feelings on this one. While reading the last chapter, I was reminded of the fall of Carthage when Creusa ran about looking for her husband and son.Voices of the Past on Youtube has a great documentary called “How Far Did Rome Explore?” in which he recounts Carthage’s destruction, among other Roman conquests. I think about it inordinately often- it might just be my Roman Empire. When Carthage was set ablaze, Scipio is said to have stood there, contemplating, remembering the Iliad and the fall of Troy. At Carthage, those men who did not burn alive were slaughtered, young and old, and the women were enslaved, subjected to the violence that slavery, especially for women, entails. So, when Creusa was looking for the men in her life, I assumed they had already been slaughtered. And as soon as Chapter 3 opened with the women of Troy awaiting their fates, I knew what they would face as well. History echoes through time, and no matter the era, it is never fair– especially to women. 

Chapter 4

Nobody listens to women, even when they’re right. What else is new? Poor Theano. Did she betray her city, or did the city betray her? Can it be both? I wonder, did the Greeks follow their promise, leaving Theano’s family alone when they saw the panther skin on their door? That part reminds me of the twelve plagues of Egypt, though I doubt the Iliad had any influence from the Torah. So far, this book has me feeling contemplative. I’ve been remembering a lot of other media that I’ve consumed, and relating it back to the book. It’s also brought back some of the thoughts I’ve been having recently, about how the current state of the United States echoes the crumbling of past empires. I’ve also thought about how Ms.Fusaro likes to have us read books from the perspective of the villains in the sources that inspired them, and A Thousand Ships definitely fits the bill, though it is a little different in the sense that the women of Troy were never the specific evils in the Iliad, just lumped in with the rest of the city that “stole” Helen. 

Chapter 5

The poet is a joking self-insert!!! I knew it!!! That’s funny. I’ll give Natalie Haynes credit for that. The chapter was 2 pages long, I really don’t have anything else to say.

Chapter 6

Looks like the Greeks did indeed spare Theano and her family. I agree more with Andromache than Hecabe in this chapter. Theano did what she had to do to save her family. Perhaps she is simply genre-aware. The end would have always been the same, but she, unlike the other characters, was able to make the choice to attain freedom, even at the expense of her city.

Chapter 7

Ah, Penthesilea. I, too, understand you. When the world is truly at fault, its indifference is a comfort. You can scream, curse, and cry at the sun and stars all that you want, but they will never answer. You can blame your struggles on the simple luck of the draw, and it hurts, but it was never in your hands, and there is no one to tell you otherwise. It hurts much more when your failings are your own. Those around you may blame it on the world, but you know the truth. There is no one to scream and curse and cry at but yourself. And your subconscious, unlike the universe, will always answer. You could’ve. Would’ve. Should’ve. But you Didn’t. Your fault. It was never an accident, happenstance, no matter what those around you may say. What is there to do now? Hippolyta is dead, at Penthesilea’s hand. So it goes. Penthesilea must atone. So it goes.

Why yes, I am coping well with my college rejections. Why do you ask? 

Chapter 8

Dramatic Irony: The Chapter, Part 2– Electric Boogaloo. Poor Penelope. We, the readers, know that her husband isn’t coming home any time soon. I’m not sure she really would have cut her own feet with the plow, as she claims, but hindsight is 20:20. She recognizes that too. I liked how the format changed to a letter-style. Yet another short chapter.

Chapter 9

I have few comments on the content of the chapter, so I will return to what I’m actually supposed to be doing, which is discussing my ~feelings~. This chapter made me queasy. It reflects the reality of war, and the violence against women that it entails, but to read Haynes discuss around it is almost worse than reading it discussed frankly. I assume that’s the feeling she intended to convey, though. Good job, Haynes.

Chapter 10

This chapter is similar to the last, at least in the feelings it evokes. Chryseis is frustrating, Bryseis deserves better. Agamemnon is disgusting, as is Patroclus. I often hear the tale of Achilles and Patroclus discussed as its own tragedy, but they must have been involved in the tragedy of so many others as well. That’s what this chapter was meant to convey. I was queasy again. But in the end, vindicated.

Chapter 11

I think I’ve finally realized what it is that I don’t like about Natalie Haynes’s writing. She writes very similarly to the grimdark genre, except focusing it through the feminist lens (and, if you want to get technical, technically not in a fantasy setting either, but I digress). According to the Cambridge dictionary, grimdark is “a type of fantasy fiction… with characters who behave in ways that are morally bad and a subject matter that is sad, hopeless, or violent.” I do not like grimdark because it just feels so… monotonous in its horrors. Stories with unethical characters are far more gut-wrenching when you see the people they could have been, and tales with unhappy endings are much more potent when they begin with joy. That way, you feel what the characters have lost far more deeply. I really enjoyed Jujutsu Kaisen (at least until the latest arc…) for that very reason. I didn’t expect the current trio to get a happy ending, and I knew for a fact (having read the prequel) that the flashback chapters wouldn’t end well either. But seeing Itadori, Fushiguro, and Nobara bond and laugh together made me feel much more strongly for them when they later faced tragedy. Seeing Getou’s descent into darkness after his initial idealism didn’t make his later actions more bearable, but it did make them far more interesting and gave me a reason to… care. In stories where there is only sorrow after sorrow, it just gets boring. That’s what Haynes likes to do. There is little joy in war, or in any of the ancient tales she likes to reimagine. I don’t blame her for how she writes, and I don’t expect her to inject joy into a joyless tale. It simply isn’t the style that I enjoy, and reading her writing just gets tiring after a while because the horrible actions against women that she depicts simply become the norm. I guess that’s true for real life war too. This spiel was sponsored by Thetis’s suffering in this chapter.

Chapter 12

Calliope is back! My favorite character. “Men’s deaths are epic, women’s deaths are tragic” – now that’s a quote. Is Haynes the writer, or is she Calliope? Perhaps she is both. The writer is her base self, basely lamenting the tragedy of the tales she recounts, and her conscience is Calliope, reminding herself that she was that one that signed up for this, that this is how all wars are. These chapters with Calliope are becoming my favorites. I did just spend an entire paragraph complaining about how Haynes includes no breaks from the sorrow in her stories, and while the Calliope chapters aren’t exactly breaks, they are palate-cleansers. I love Calliope’s sass.

Chapter 13

A commentary on free will– Mr.Olsen would be so proud. Was Achilles predestined to be a killer? Even though most in the modern day do not believe in the Hellenic Fates, we still might be predestined to our futures due to the physics of relativity. Or not, due to quantum mechanics. Are we deprived of a choice by our own characters, or by the very nature of time in the universe? Protagonists of our own mini tragedies? Or do our actions indeed affect the future, a quantum thing subject to change? I don’t know. I’d like to believe the latter. I wonder what Cassandra means about Achilles being unfinished.

Chapter 14

I… don’t know how I feel about this one. Yet again, men do not listen to women. How did Laodomia even know what would happen? This chapter reads like a classic Greek myth: self contained, involving the gods, and ending in someone dying. Messed up.

Chapter 15

R.I.P Iphigenia. Maybe this is part of why Agememnon hates Achilles so much? Jealousy, in part, but also guilt as to how he lied to his daughter? An innocent sacrificed for the favor of the gods. Reminds me of Abraham and Isaac, especially if Artemis really did save her. Makes me feel angry, on Iphigenia’s behalf.

Chapter 16

In a universe without gods, I too would’ve blamed Helen for the fall of Troy, at least in part. She did choose to leave, just as Paris chose to come and try to take her away. In the real world, “the will of God[s]” is an excuse. If you claim cancer and injustice and war is another’s will, the fault of a more powerful being, you don’t have to try as hard to stop it. In a universe with gods, however, Helen’s choices can indeed be blamed on the will of Aphrodite. Aphrodite would have driven her mad, otherwise, and Helen is a mere pawn in her game to win “Most Beautiful”. Yet, no matter where she went, Helen would never have been happy. Feeling frustrated on Helen’s behalf.

Chapter 17

If I can give Natalie Haynes credit for anything, it would be her writing of the goddesses. Incredibly flawed beings, just as the Greeks thought of them. This chapter was just a retelling of the golden apple myth– nothing worth writing home about. But it was nice how distinct she made each goddess, so obviously flawed yet simultaneously powerful. Paris is an idiot.

Chapter 18

L Odysseus. That’s all.

Chapter 19

So he never made it to Greece? If he did, I’d assume he’d be wearing a different shirt by the time they found him. Where did they find him? Does it matter? In war, every action by the losing side is in the end futile, no matter how heroic it seemed… just as Red Horse would say. R.I.P.

Chapter 20

Good job, Oenone! Paris doesn’t deserve your healing, or attention. He came crawling back because he needed to, not because he wanted you. He deserves your rejection! I feel vindicated on her behalf.

Chapter 21

Calliope!!!!!!! Yep, the two are the author. Or the author and her counterargument. The point Haynes makes about men seeing themselves reflected in the glory of the heroes in the stories they recount is interesting. I don’t want to focus on the glory aspect of it, though. Instead, it reminded me of gender disparities in consumption of modern media. It’s common for women to consume media centering male characters. And– it’s accepted, for the most part. They are shunned from spaces centering that media, sure, or their expertise is questioned, but they still watch or read that very media and do so at a high rate. On the other hand, men rarely consume media targeted towards women. In fact, they often deride it. Shoujo manga is made fun of, as are romance novels, or other woman-centered media. Many men can see themselves in the glory of Achilles or Hector, even if they rarely resemble those heroes– but they find it hard to relate to a story centering an ordinary woman, even if her circumstances are far more similar to theirs. To relate to a woman, or to consume women-oriented media, is almost seen as degrading. Calliope is correct– Oenone is a hero. And she is far more relatable than Menelaus ever was.

Finally, I have reached the halfway point of the novel! And so, this blog draws to a close. Will I finish the book? Probably not. Sorry Ms.Fusaro, but this book has not endeared me to Natalie Haynes’s “grimdark” writing any more than Stone Blind did. However, it is always interesting to try on another's pair of critical lenses, and to see what their prescription is like. 

A Thousand Ships may not have been my cup of tea, but I’m still glad that I gave it a Troy.

(badum- tss)

The End.