“On the day Polyxena died, I’d stood by Achilles’s burial mound and told myself that Achilles’s story had ended at his grave, and that my own story was about to begin. The truth? Achilles’s story never ends: wherever men fight and die, you’ll find Achilles. And as for me—my story and his were inextricably linked.”
The aftermath of the Trojan War and the death of Achilles means that the story of the hero is done but that is far from the truth. After the events of The Silence of the Girls, Briseis and other women of Troy held captive sail away with the Greek Warriors. Moreover, Briseis is carrying Achilles’ unborn child who acts as the main link between them which runs much deeper than she thought. Anticipating his fate in the battle, Achilles protects his child by marrying Briseis off to his friend Alcimus. He ensures that his legacy continues through his son which by default renders her part of his story way after his death. Briseis is still caught in between the old feuds and rivalries of these violent men and thus the spirit of Achilles lives on in these conflicts. Though she is saddened to have been traded off to a man responsible for her family’s death, their story is forever bonded.
“One of my fears was that Amina was capable of dragging the other girls into her crazy crusade, though I didn’t think she would. She was too proud of her isolation, her solitary, joyless rectitude.”
The women of Troy under the captivity of the Greek armies are plunged into a reality that they are unfamiliar with. Now as prisoners the royal women have a hard time adjusting to their circumstances, particularly Amina with her stubborn attitude. She acts as Briseis’ foil in the narrative in that while the protagonist is composed Amina is uncompromising in her sentiments. For instance, she is adamant to lay to rest Priam’s unburied corpse even though it comes with the punishment of death. Therefore, Briseis is in constant fear that Amina will drag other girls to conduct such action that might have dire consequences. As such, she counts on parts of her character that will cause her to act upon these ideas unaided.
“Many of the girls were crying again; I wondered how many of them had been promised in marriage to young men whose bodies now lay rotting inside the walls of Troy. They needed to grieve, but after a while I began to feel the weeping had gone on long enough.”
This narrative works to offer voices to the silenced Trojan women as illustrated in the prequel novel. Since the war, the Trojan women have known captivity, suffering, and desperation in the hands of the Greek Warriors. It charts the grief of enslaved women who had status in Troy and now have to be under the thumb of their captors. While each responds to their loss differently, their trauma is evident and Briseis takes notice of the constant grieving at the camps. In the statement, Briseis asserts their states of mind that might be humiliation, resentment, or powerlessness that hound their everyday lives as captives. She decides to forge connections with the former royal women and other Trojan women to help them adjust to their current situation.
