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This 4 page paper discusses Mary Renault’s novel “The Persian Boy” and what it tells us about the difference between ancient and modern societies. Bibliography lists 1 source.
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4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVpersby.rtf
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This paper considers her 1972 novel The Persian Boy and what it tells readers about the societies of the ancient world. Discussion The student has chosen this book to try
and understand the differences between ancient and modern societies and why in a nominally free world some societies remain closed. The question is whether these societies (thinking mostly of the
Middle East) are closed because it is traditional, or if they might be persuaded to adopt a more modern view. The book is interesting but is less helpful in this
particular regard than it might be since it concentrates largely on the love affair between Bagoas, the "Persian boy" of the title and Alexander the Great. Mary Renault is noted
for her sympathetic and sensitive portrayals of homosexual relationships, and that is the case here. However, for readers who have trouble with the idea of homosexuality, the book is a
tough go. But it does give a fairly accurate picture of life in ancient Greece, and what it was like to be a slave. The book opens with a horrific
episode in which the narrator introduces himself and explains what happened to his family: "Five or six men dragged through the door a man with a dreadful face. Its center
was red and empty; blood streamed from it into his mouth and beard ... both shoulders dripped blood, for his ears were gone. I knew him by his boots; they
were my fathers" (Renault 3). The men push Bagoass father to his knees; "It took them five or six sword-strokes, to cleave through his neck" (Renault 4). At this sight
Bagoass mother throws herself from the tower of their fortress; his three sisters are repeatedly raped (they are 13, 12 and nine) and he is taken captive (Renault). He is
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