Lent Term Issue

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A R T S & C U L T U R E 13
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood:
The Stories of Those Who Were Silenced
Valentina Caneschi
MUSIC EDITOR
Many people know who Ulysses/Odysseus
is: the protagonist of the Odyssey; the guy
who helped the Achaeans to win the Trojan
War thanks to his invention, the wooden
horse; that person who took ten whole
years to get back to his home, Ithaca.
Yes, many do forget that he spent seven of those
years with Calypso, cheating on his wife Penelope
over and over again, while she was literally just
waiting for him to come back to her and her son,
faithfully. But yeah, Odysseus, a great guy.
But that’s not the character Margaret
Atwood decided to centre. Her
choice, was to carve out literary
space for his wife, the very under
appreciated Penelope.
But who is she, really? Who is the woman
regulated to a mere footnote in Odysseus’s story,
used just to make him look like this amazing man
who saved his poor wife from a bunch of savages?
These questions are answered in
beautiful detail by Atwood in her
novel The Penelopiad.
With a wonderful and engaging first person
narrator, we witness a Penelope who does not
pretend to be the strongest or most beautiful
woman who ever lived.
No, in this novel,
Penelope just tells
her story from the
land of the dead,
remembering her
past, from the
moment she was
born, to the moment
her husband killed
all her Suitors.
It is a story of pain, tears
(quite a lot of them),
jealousy, and attempted
brightness. But, most of all,
it is a story of death, love
and regret.
And all that is not
only experienced by
the queen of Ithaca,
but also by someone else, someone
even more under appreciated who
are finally given a voice: her Maids.
For those who are not too familiar with the story,
do not worry, I am about to quickly explain why
they are so important.
In all the years
Penelope had to wait
for her husband, she
had a lot of helpers,
some of them being
her Twelve Maids,
loyal and trustworthy
girls who had been
living with the queen
since the day they
were born.
This novel partially
chronicles the lives of
those same Twelve Maids,
who tell us about how they
have been abused for their
entire lives, how they had
no chance of changing their
futures, ever since birth.
They tell their
stories through the form of a chant,
a musical poem, and once, even
through the form of a play that they
themselves enact.
Penelope is undeniably not the luckiest
woman, but hearing about their lives from their
perspectives definitely reminds us that, in the
end, she is still a royal.
So yes: poetry, prose, play, different
point of views, characters nobody
ever talks about, raw and truthful
emotions: these few but intense
pages have everything one could
ask for.
If you ever want to explore Greek mythology
outside of those wonderfully interesting, but told
and retold stories of the same men and gods, The
Penelopiad will let you do just that.
With this novel, Margaret Atwood just
confirmed that she is an extremely
skilled writer: never boring, never
obvious, always new.
She is a true creator of masterpieces.
First Aid Myths Busted:
Separating Fact from
Fiction to Save Lives
Amy Dixon
ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR
There are many common myths about first aid
techniques that can be very dangerous and
cause more harm than good.
As a trained first aider, I have put together a list
of five common myths and corrected them with
clear instructions.
If you would like to learn more first aid or
simply practice your skills, then the Lancaster
University First Aid Society (which meets every
Monday at 8pm) is a great group to join.
Alternatively, head to the St John Ambulance
website for step-by-step instructions, videos,
and diagrams.
Myth 1: You can swallow
your tongue if you are
unconscious.
Fact: It is not physically
possible to swallow
your tongue, even when
unconscious, as it attached
to the base of your mouth
with soft tissue.
However, it can block the airway by falling to the
back of the throat, so if somebody is unconscious
you must open their airway by placing two
fingers under their chin and your hand on their
forehead and tilting their face gently.
You can then put them in the recovery position
and call an ambulance.
Myth 2: Keep someone
on their back if they are
vomiting.
Fact: When someone is
drunk or very ill, they are
likely to throw up.
It is crucial that the person is rolled over onto
their side, ideally in the recovery position, or at
least with a cushion or something similar that
prevents them from rolling onto their back.
This will stop the person choking on their sick,
which can be fatal.
Myth 3: Tilt someone’s
head back to stop a
nosebleed.
Fact: If you tilt someone’s
head back when they have
a nosebleed, they are
likely to swallow the blood
and make themselves
sick, as the nose, throat
and ears are all connected
by canals.
Instead, you should ask the patient to pinch the
soft part of their nose and lean forward to stop
blood dripping onto their clothes.
The bleeding should stop within 10-20 minutes,
but if it does not, you should seek help from a
healthcare professional.
Myth 4: If someone is
having a seizure, put
something in their mouth.
Fact: Forcing any object
into a person’s mouth
when they unconscious
or having a seizure is
very dangerous. It could
damage their teeth, or
they could swallow the
object and choke.
You are also putting your hands at risk, as during
a seizure their jaw muscles will tighten and bite
down. You do not want to get your finger bitten
by someone else!
Instead, clear a safe space around the person
and try and place something soft like a jacket
under the person’s head. Once the patient has
recovered, ask them if this was their first seizure.
If it was then they need to go to hospital.
Myth 5: Apply butter or ice
to a burn.
Fact: If butter is put on
the burn, the grease will
prevent the release of
heat from the skin, which
prolongs the pain. When
ice is put on a burn it
reduces the blood flow
to the burnt area as the
capillaries contract from
the cold.
This can reverse the healing process and even
cause an ice burn.
The only effective and safe way to treat a burn
is by running it under cold water for 15-
20 minutes. Make sure that you remove any
jewellery or other obstructions that are near the
burn site.