‘If only a peek at what they missed on earth,‘ I said.
‘Desire does not die with the body,‘ said Helen. ‘Only the ability to satisfy it. But a glimpse or two does perk them up, the poor lambs.‘
‘It gives them a reason to live,‘ I said.
‘You‘re being witty,‘ said Helen. ‘Better late than never, I suppose.‘
‘My wittiness, or your bare-naked tits-and-ass bath treat for the dead?‘ I said. - P154
This reading of the events in question ties in excuse the play on words — with the ship‘s hawser from which we dangled, for the new moon is a boat. And then there‘s the bow that figures so prominently in the story - the curved old-moon bow of Artemis, used to shoot an arrow through twelve axe-heads — twelve! The arrow passed through the loops of their handles, the round, moon-shaped loops! And the hanging itself - think, dear educated minds, of the significance of the hanging! Above the earth, up in the air, connected to the moon-governed sea by an umbilical boat-linked rope — oh, there are too many clues for you to miss it!(p.164) - P164
Thus possibly our rape and subsequent hanging represent the overthrow of a matrilineal moon-cult by an incoming group of usurping patriarchal father-god-worshipping barbarians. The chief of them, notably Odysseus, would then claim kingship by marrying the High Priestess of our cult, namely Penelope.(p.165) - P165
Both acts, the hanging and the genital-tearing-off, would have ensured the fertility of the crops. But usurping strongman Odysseus refused to die at the end of his rightful term. Greedy for prolonged life and power, he found substitutes. Genitals were indeed torn off, but they were not his — they belonged to the goatherd Melanthius. Hanging did indeed take place, but it was we, the twelve moon-maidens, who did the swinging in his place.(p.167) - P167
You don‘t have to think of us as real girls, real flesh and blood, real pain, real injustice. That might be too upsetting. Just discard the sordid part. Consider us pure symbol. We‘re no more real than money.(p.167) - P167
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