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Abstract

Losing a child to death is one of the hardest trials a mother and father can go through. In the natural progression of life, the parent should die first. Unfortunately, many parents must learn how to live without their son or daughter. Tragedies such as this happen more frequently in the Iliad, because of the war raging around Troy. Hector deals with the possibility of not seeing his infant son ever again when he goes out to fight the Greeks, but he pushes down his fears and wishes for his son to have a long, fulfilling life. Thetis is aware that her son is going to have a short life, yet she chooses to assist him as best as she is able. Priam loses his beloved son Hector and has to balance his responsibilities in life with his grief over the death of his son. These interactions between parents and children translate easily into modern life, because working parents have to leave their children every day as Hector did. Similarly, mothers have to care for children with terminal illnesses, which relates to Thetis’s relationship with Achilles, and fathers such as Priam have to deal with the death of their child. These relevant concerns show that the Iliad has themes pertinent to modern civilization. Especially when dealing with parent’s coping with their child’s death and the different reactions to such trials, the Iliad highlights relevant themes which can be applied to contemporary society.

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