"Like A Boy"

Penelope, wife to Odysseus, had been faithful for twenty lonely years. This was very admirable of her considering that every man in her country was trying to marry her and she had not seen or heard from her husband. Odysseus was also being disloyal and adulterous with a goddess, Calypso. Penelope was securely faithful and continued with her marriage even though her man was untrue.

Penelope’s resilience in her marriage was incredible. Every man in this queen’s country was constantly trying to court her. Her suitors were constantly at her home and destroying the property. “down to the last man the court my mother, they lay waste my house! And mother… she neither rejects a marriage she despises nor can she bear to bring the courting to an end-“(Book 1, 288-2991)The bachelors were desperate and resilient but once again Penelope proved her love for her husband but still kept her suitors around. “She fell to weeping for Odysseus… But the suitors broke into… prayers to lie beside her, share her bed,” (Book 1, 418-421) While she wept longing for Odysseus, her husband was with Calypso. For seven years he stayed on her island, while taking advantage of his loving wife. “In the nights, true, he’d sleep with her in the arching cave-“(Book 5, 170-171) Penelope is an amazing character in that she never gave up on someone, while in the same situation others would lose faith.

“Like a Boy” by Ciara, is from a viewpoint of a lover with a disloyal and absent partner. In many ways this song reminded me of Penelope. One is how both the singer and Penelope are both faithful and devoted to an adulterous man, while both being limited by society and its expectations. “What if I?/Had a thing on the side?/Made ya cry?/Would the rules change up?/Or would they still apply?/If I played you like a toy?/Sometimes I wish I could act like a boy” Another similarity between theses two speakers are also their absent lovers. “If I was always gone/With the sun get'n home/(Would Ya Like That?)/Told you I was with my crew/When I knew it wasn't true” Penelope saw that even if her husband was supposedly dead, she still was true. “Like a Boy” reminded me of Penelope because of both of their unfaithful and absent men.