Like every other Greek myth, feminism and womanhood are major and reoccurring themes when describing characters and plots of stories. Even in stories that do not involve women, in a major sense, the ideas of downgrading, underestimating, and degrading women apply hugely in characterizing the male characters. In other retells of myths, homosexuality comes out to play in a few people, but only when the stories are re-written in modern senses. In other words, most Greek myths are written with strong and powerful male leads with many wives that could be in low status as slaves and are treated like they will go nowhere in life without a husband. The Lost Books of the Odyssey is another example of a rewrite of the Odyssey much like The Penelopiad. The major themes of womanhood and feminism come to life when the story is retold from a female’s perspective- Penelope and her twelve maids also known as Odysseus’s wife. Most of the story is the huge discussion of the problems women face in ancient Greece and what is expected of them. These hardships, that are still present today, shape the idea of feminism in modern and ancient times. This is one of the most important things as a takeaway, for the sake of women in modern times and the key to the understanding of the difference between how men and women are treated. Even now, females experience harassment, underestimation, and even as extreme as less pay. Atwood’s take on the female representation in her version of the Odyssey serves as a turning point in the understanding and importance of feminism. Shedding light on the subject by a retelling is one way to get readers to retain the information. Not only does it perfect explain some of the first counts of female degradation but it shows the importance of why feminists take action and want the best for women today.
Articles about female hardships and statistics of harassment: Harassment: www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/21/587671849/a-new-survey-finds-eighty-percent-of-women-have-experienced-sexual-harassment Hardships: www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/03/08/women-biggest-problems-international-womens-day-225698/
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