The Silence of the Girls, Pat Barker (2018) Penguin

8 weeks ago at the Quaker book group, we decided that we would read, ‘The Silence of the Girls’. I got the book from the library 4 weeks ago. I read a couple of pages and thought, “I don’t get ancient Greek stories.”
There is something about being a member of the Book group that focussed my mind, I then had that frequent conversation with myself;
“Do you want to be part of the group? If so read the book.”
“I am sure I can skip this one.”
“Ok, I have about a week to read it let’s have another go.”
The sign came that I was making progress when, on page 38, I reached for my pen and notepad to write down a quote,
“These were men trained from earliest childhood to resent the slightest insult to their honour.”
The writer was connecting with me and I was connecting to what I know; young men are still resenting the slightest insult to their honour. If your honour is the clothes you wear, your bodily image and your mum it will not take long for a war to break out.
There is more page 39, “…we talked a lot …. but not about the past…. We were all born again on our first day in the camp.”
The voice speaking is that of Briseis. She has been taken as his prize by Achilles after his destruction of Lyrnessus, her home.
There are certain words and themes that speak my language, born again and the present moment.
Then there are those on page 72 that turn my eyes to heaven, “…. you know his mother is a sea goddess”. I can’t be doing with fanciful thinking give me the stories of the Hebrews.
Barker is giving me enough to stick with it I note an observation of humans, ‘confident people shy around children’. I don’t note the page.
Now I note that my notes fill empty spaces and the chronology has gone awry as a quote from page 7 appears, so I got into the story quicker than page 38,
“Mynes seemed entirely unaware of the tension, but then in my experience men are curiously blind to aggression in women. They’re the warrior, with their helmets and armour their swords and spears, and they don’t seem to see our battles or they prefer not to. Perhaps if they realised we’re not the gentle creatures they take us for their own peace of mind would be disturbed.”
Briseis speaking prior to the sacking of Lyrnessus.
This opened my mind to the possibility that women feel emotions that men may not know. Could women also exist in a world that is so different from the one that I know? This led on to observing how different a world others are inhabitants. Watching the thousands traipsing through London adorned with the 12 stars flag of the European Union (EU) raised the question in me, “Why do I not feel so passionate about being a member of the EU?” Clearly, people, I know pretty well do so what did I miss? It led me back to Northern Ireland and the same question around identity, “Why do I feel unionist rather than nationalist?”
Identity is a central theme of the novel and Briseis story is about the other being enslaved. Not just as a woman but as a Trojan woman. She is influenced by her experience but she never becomes one with it retaining her identity. Perhaps towards the end, she has integrated her experiences and becomes something new.
The story touches on relationships between sons and their mothers, sons and absent fathers, men and their superiors, men and the women they use for sexual pleasure, men and their relationship with close male friends.
The loneliness of both men and women and the impact of loss are interwoven. In summary, most of us will identify with the story it may only be a case of persisting until, like me, you do.
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