Penelope's Story

Who was Penelope?

Penelope is a well-known figure in Greek mythology.  Penelope married Odysseus and after about year of marriage, he went off to fight in the Trojan War.  Penelope waited about 20 years for him to return, raising their child and keeping the kingdom together (sound familiar?).  Eventually, suitors showed up wanting to marry her.  Penelope soon realized that she was expected to choose a suitor.   So she devised a plan.  She told them she would one after she finished weaving a shroud (funeral canopy) for her father-in-law.  So each day Penelope would weave some of the shroud and each night she would unravel what she wove.  She had no intention of ever finishing the shroud! 

Like Penelope, many of the victims we serve struggle to find ways to take care of themselves, often involving secrecy, in order to stay safe.  In reality, Penelope’s story is a story of survival, a story that our residents face everyday.  So, in honoring Penelope, we honor the victims who somehow, through their own ingenuity, find their way to our residence and to safety. 

"Penelope and the Suitors," painting by John William Waterhouse (1912)