A Thousand Ships

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Create a Myth”

In this activity, students will write a myth that centers women’s experiences to demonstrate their understanding of Haynes’s choices in the novel.

What are myths usually about, and how does Haynes’s approach differ from tradition? In this activity, you will invent and write your own myth centered on women’s experiences, whether by featuring a woman as a strong central character or by calling attention to important women’s issues. As you complete this activity, consider the following points:

• How does this myth address women’s experiences?
• What lessons does it teach?
• What is the role of gods or supernatural beings in this myth?
• Who are the characters, and what do they represent?
• In which medium is this myth being presented (e.g., epic, epistolary, drama)?

Students may be asked to present their myths to the class before turning them in to the instructor. Afterward, in a journal and/or class discussion, reflect on the goals and outcomes of Haynes’s novel. What was the overall effect of Haynes’s choice to center her work on women’s experiences? How does this impact the myths of the Trojan War?

Teaching Suggestion: Students can create a myth or adapt an existing myth. For the latter, they might elaborate on the experiences of a woman from classical mythology. The class may also benefit from discussing the qualities of the different literary and narrative formats a myth can take (epic, epistolary, or drama).

Differentiation Suggestion: To encourage student agency and for students with artistic and/or musical abilities, consider allowing an alternative approach to the assignment in which students create a visual representation or a song that represents their myth. These students may provide their descriptions aloud in a class presentation.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Helen is a central figure in the mythology of the Trojan War, though she is largely ignored in Haynes’s novel.

• How does Haynes represent Helen in A Thousand Ships? (topic sentence)
• Using textual support, analyze Helen’s role in the novel by comparing it with Helen’s role in classical literature.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, reflect on why Haynes may not have included any chapters written from Helen’s perspective, despite the novel’s central theme of Centering Women’s Experiences.

2. Gods and goddesses play an important role in the mythology of the Trojan War and are prominent throughout the novel.

• What role(s) do the gods play in the novel, especially in connection to the war? (topic sentence)
• Discuss the gods’ involvement in the war and in the lives of the characters. Use specific evidence from the text to support your claims.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, evaluate the gods’ role(s) in the novel and how this impacts the way the different characters view them.

3. The Meaning of a Hero is a central theme in the novel.

• How does Haynes use characters such as Penthesilea and Oenone to suggest a new definition of heroism? (topic sentence)
• Consider at least three characters from the novel and discuss the ways in which they exhibit (or fail to exhibit) true heroism.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, evaluate Haynes’s definition of heroism and how it compares to the way heroism is depicted in ancient sources.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Consider Haynes’s usage of terms such as epic, tragedy, and hero. What do these terms mean to Haynes? How does her usage of these terms depart from ancient Greek usage? What point might Haynes be making on the relevance of ancient mythology and literature in the modern world?

2. In one of her harsh interactions with the bard, Calliope tries to explain that war “is not a sport” but rather a “web which stretches out to the furthest parts of the world, drawing everyone into itself.” (Chapter 12) What does Calliope mean? What is the significance behind the symbolism of the web? In what ways does the structure of Haynes’s novel reflect this symbolism?

3. One of the lessons that Calliope tries to teach the bard—apparently unsuccessfully—is that “the man who can win the war can only rarely survive the peace.” (Chapter 35) Choose one Greek hero (e.g., Agamemnon, Odysseus, Neoptolemus) and explain how their experiences after the Trojan War illustrate this idea. How do the postwar experiences of the Greek heroes impact the women characters of the novel?

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which one of the following quotes challenges the traditional Greek concept of heroism?

A) “Not to men like these, these arrogant Greeks with their tall ships and their bronze armour, glinting in the sun because not one of them could tolerate the notion that he should labor in obscurity, unseen and unadmired.” (Chapter 2)

B) “I would have swung the plough into my own feet, and cut them into ribbons before I hurt our son or let the Argives take me away from here.” (Chapter 8)

C) “The Greeks were all the same: they saw no worth in any but their own.” (Chapter 10)

D) “My weaving was nothing compared to that of these women […] I have other skills.” (Chapter 26)

2. What is Cassandra’s curse?

A) To be despised by her family

B) To die before her parents

C) To speak prophecies that nobody believes

D) To die a virgin

3. Who is the “conniving Spartan whore”? (Chapter 3)

A) Helen

B) Cassandra

C) Andromache

D) Menelaus

4. Which of the Trojan women does Calliope make a point of ignoring?

A) Cassandra

B) Polyxena

C) Hecabe

D) Helen

5. Why is Penthesilea disappointed when she comes to Troy?

A) Because she was expecting Troy to be richer

B) Because she was expecting more from the heroes on both sides

C) Because she was hoping to meet Hector before he died

D) Because she was expecting Helen to be more beautiful

6. What is unique about Penelope’s chapters?

A) They are exceptionally long.

B) They are written in the third person.

C) They are written as letters.

D) They are illustrated.

7. Why is Helen so blameworthy, according to Hecabe?

A) Because she did not honor the gods

B) Because she allowed herself to be seduced

C) Because she did not kill herself when Paris died

D) Because she did not give Paris a son

8. Which goddess wins the Judgment of Paris?

A) Athena

B) Demeter

C) Hera

D) Aphrodite

9. Why is Odysseus’ return voyage so hard?

A) Because he likes traveling to exotic places

B) Because he crashed his ship

C) Because he blinded Poseidon’s son

D) Because he is looking for the Golden Fleece

10. What does Menelaus mean when he tells Polyxena she will be “a gift” for Achilles?

A) She will be sacrificed at Achilles’ tomb.

B) She will become Achilles’ priestess.

C) She will be married to Achilles’ son Neoptolemus.

D) She will be ceremoniously married to Achilles.

11. Why do Zeus and Themis cause the Trojan War?

A) Because there are too many mortals

B) Because they are bored

C) To punish the impiety of the Greeks and Trojans

D) To help Achilles become a famous hero

12. What do the Greeks do to Andromache’s son Astyanax?

A) Sacrifice him at Achilles’ tomb.

B) Make him the new king of Troy.

C) Enslave him for life.

D) Throw him from the walls of Troy.

13. Why does Clytemnestra hate her husband, Agamemnon?

A) Because he killed her first husband

B) Because she is in love with another man

C) Because he killed their daughter

D) Because he is unfaithful to her

14. Why does Agamemnon hesitate to walk on the tapestries laid down by Clytemnestra?

A) Because he has a hard time walking

B) Because he does not like the color

C) Because doing so would be impious

D) Because doing so would ruin the tapestries

15. Who is Neoptolemus’ wife?

A) Andromache

B) Hermione

C) Hecabe

D) Penelope

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What does Calliope mean when she says in Chapter 12 that “the casualties of war aren’t just the ones who die”?

2. In what way does Haynes suggest that a woman like Oenone may be more heroic than a warrior like Menelaus?