First off, I want to say sorry for not updating lately. I forgot to publish everything until now. Things should come up today like this blog.
I am finally in the middle of the story! And so much has happened! Let me give you a recap.
SO! Achilles and Patroclus become best friend, and Patroclus falls deeper in love with Achilles. He tells how much they've grown together, and how much different they look now passim through puberty. Patroclus eventually cannot contain his love for Achilles anymore, and finally (What I've been waiting this whole time) he kisses Achilles (YESSSSS). We don't get to know about what Achilles thinks about this kiss until later in the pages (just you WAIT).
Thetis (Achilles mother) of course, is not happy about this, and decided that Achilles must be sent far away for Patroclus. This makes Patroclus leave the castle now that he is alone.
As he wonders in the woods, he meets Achilles once again accompanied by Chiron, who is now Achilles's teacher and becomes Patroclus's teacher too. Both boys grow older with Chiron teaching them medicine, fighting, etc. Patroclus (still in love with Achilles) always spend time with him, as they both become men.
Achilles, finally reveals that he is in love with Patroclus too!!!!!! (LET'S GOOOO) and they both become a couple. ( I was actually reading this part in class, and the amount of excitement I got from reading this was TOO MUCHH! But, sadly, I had to contain my feelings.) Thetis keeps visiting Achilles from time to time, but doesn't notice the relationship of Achilles and Patroclus.
After years of them together with Chiron, Achilles is called back to the castle of Peleus ungently. But, he makes sure to take Patroclus with him because they've promised each other to never leave one another. Achilles is told that he has to fight in the Trojan War, the biggest one in history, because he is the son of a goddess, but, this leads to Thetis taking Achilles far away again. Patroclus goes with Phoenix for Achilles, there, they find out Achilles is married to a princess. Once Achilles finds Patroclus, he makes sure to explain everything to Patroclus (how he was forced to marry) and present Patroclus as his real husband. But the princess does not give up, and finally tell everyone that she is pregnant with Achilles's child. This angers Patroclus, but Achilles reassures him that he did not want to do anything, and was forced to. We learn that Achilles's mother does not want Achilles to fight in the war, and she will do anything to protect him. But either way, once the princess is satisfied with her son having Achilles's name, and meet Odysseus, Patroclus and Achilles join the war.
Now that I finally go over that, let me explain to you why I think the book should be named differently.
The lyre as well as Achilles's singing is very important to Patroclus, and this is his story, which explains why the story is named like this, but, the problem is that it is only important to Patroclus like until they go to war. In other words, the lyre gets mentioned a couple of times in the beginning of the book, for example Page 49 where Patroclus says: "He played my mother's lyre, and I watched. When it was my turn to play, my fingers tangled in the strings and the teacher despaired me. I did not care. "play again," I told him. And he played until I could barely see his fingers in the dark." and a couple of more times before chapter fifteen. But after that, the lyre and Achilles's sing don't stand out anymore. It's like this important thing for the both of them disappeared because of the war. And it doesn't disappear at the almost end of the book, it happens wayyyy to early. So now, the 'being named after something that was important only in the beginning of the book' does not fit it well. Its like calling the book Speak by laurie Halse Anderson, something like first day of school, or the name of another ex-bestfriend of Melinda (Sorry, I know that is a really bad, but it is the only thing I came up with). You get the point! The tittle of the book should represent the whole story (like in speak where is literally Melinda trying to speak about the party), but no, instead this book is only named after something that was important for a couple of chapters.
You might be asking, "well Ashley. If you are sooo smart, then what should the name be?" and to that I answer Pa-tro-clus. Now, listen, I know that sounds very weird (specially if you have not read the book) but just give me one second to explain.
From beginning to end, there are multiple things that symbolize Patroclus and Achilles, such as the lyre. But there is one thing (unlike the music) which keeps being important for the whole entire book, and that is how Achilles says Patroclus name. For example (Page 30) when Patroclus meets Achilles, Patroclus says. "'Patroclus.' Achilles did not slur my name, as people often did, running it together as if in a hurry to be rid of it. Instead, he rang each syllable: Pa-tro-clus." This right here shows how much Patroclus loves how Achilles says his name. Not only that, but in future pages, Patroclus can identify Achilles when they are both trying to find each other thanks to how Achilles pronounces his name.
Every time Achilles says Patroclus, this makes Patroclus feel like finally someone loves him, and respects his name even thought everyone else hated it. And this is why I think this should be the name of the book, this is the name of the man who tried everything to keep Achilles's humanity until the end, and the man who loved Achilles like no one else (I think it would also be pretty funny that the book would be called Pa-tro-clus, yet its a story to teach about Achille's life.)
(now I know that this book is called like this because the whole story is narrated by Patroclus about Achilles story, and the author took this as a song from Patroclus to Achilles, which is cute and all, but still, I wouldn't have been able to guess that, so I stand by my answer!)
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