They’re the warriors, with their helmets and armour, their swords and spears, and they don’t seem to see our battles — or they prefer not to.
-- Briseis (chapter 1 paragraph 2)

Importance: Briseis makes this claim while reflecting on her strained relationship with Queen Maire, to which Mynes always remained curiously unaware. Here, both Greek and Trojan men acknowledge only the literal battle of war rather than any other form of emotional, mental, or physical fight that might also include women. Briseis believes that men deliberately ignore female struggle, suggesting they prefer to imagine that women cannot experience the same hardships they do. Appearing early in Barker’s novel, this quotation helps establish a foundation for the dehumanization of women that occurs throughout.

It was like lying on the chest of somebody who loves you, somebody you know you can trust — though the sea loves nobody and can never be trusted. I was immediately aware...
-- Briseis (chapter 4 paragraph 1)