Chapter Four

Summary

• The protagonist feels comfortable and peaceful only during meals in the vaulted dining hall.
• He is enchanted by the beauty and grace of Achilles, who is unaware of his allure.
• The protagonist vividly describes Achilles' mesmerizing beauty and his increasing fascination and obsessive observation of him.
• Every time their eyes connect, it sends a shock through the protagonist and fills him with various emotions.
• One day, Achilles sits at the protagonist's usual table, which he has come to think of as his own, filling the place with other boys.
• Achilles' presence is described as irksome to the protagonist, but also compelling.
• One day, Achilles throws a fig to the protagonist, a gesture that brings out a myriad of emotions in him.
• The protagonist must meet King Peleus, Achilles' father. The King reminds him he is there for killing a boy and suggests that despite his wrongdoing, he might still become a good man.
• Word of the protagonist’s past spreads among the boys, leading him to isolate himself from everyone.
• Achilles finds him hiding and they have a conversation that end in Achilles offering him to attend his lyre lessons to have a valid excuse for his absences.
• Initially, despite the resentment, the protagonist agrees to follow Achilles to his music lesson.
• Achilles offers the protagonist his mother's cherished lyre to play on which he refuses, too overcome with the ache of his past and memory of his mother.
• The protagonist is utterly captivated by Achilles' music and singing, finding it extraordinarily beautiful, expressive, and moving.
• After the music session, Achilles takes the protagonist to see his father, King Peleus, to avoid punishment for his absence from the drills.